Giving Kids Some Autonomy Has Surprising Results

The New York Times ^ | Jan. 2, 2025, 5:01 a.m. ET | Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop

[E. Pluribus Unum]

In a polarized nation, one point of agreement deserves more attention: Young adults say they feel woefully unprepared for life in the work force, and employers say they’re right.

In a survey by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation of more than 4,000 members of Gen Z, 49 percent of respondents said they did not feel prepared for the future. Employers complain that young hires lack initiative, communication skills, problem-solving abilities and resilience.

There’s a reason the system isn’t serving people well, and it goes beyond the usual culprits of social media and Covid. Many recent graduates aren’t able to set targets, take initiative, figure things out and deal with setbacks — because in school and at home they were too rarely afforded any agency.

Giving kids agency doesn’t mean letting them do whatever they want. It doesn’t mean lowering expectations, turning education into entertainment or allowing children to choose their own adventure. It means requiring them to identify and pursue some of their own goals, helping them build strategies to reach those goals, assessing their progress and guiding them to course-correct when they fall short.

This approach works because it teaches kids strategies they’ll need to succeed in work and life — and keeps them invested, too. But a survey of over 66,000 young people that we conducted with the Brookings Institution and the education nonprofit Transcend showed that very few middle and high school students regularly have the opportunity to work this way. Only 33 percent of 10th graders report that they get to develop their own ideas in school. The result? In third grade, 74 percent of kids say they love school. By 10th grade, it’s 26 percent. School feels like prison, many teenagers told us over three years of research. The more time they spend...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

What's the difference between kids who can't read or write after 12 years of Prussian-style government schools and not having Prussian-style government schools?

Prussian-style government schools don't even require "teechers" to be literate.

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The only purpose of Prussian-style government schools is communist indoctrination and providing jobs to Democrat voters.

[Olog-hai]

Tractors in Amish areas?

[jroehl]

I am not criticizing anyone specifically. My point is that, on a broader scale, we Americans often cite sources like The New York Times and The Washington Post, which grants them undue legitimacy. For example, Fox News does this. If people stopped doing so, it would significantly reduce these outlets’ perceived influence. I am not advocating for bans; I was simply making a general observation.

[eyeamok]

Where’s my check and when is my break.

[cgbg]

Context is everything.

If I post anything from a left wing propaganda outlet I will put on a “left wing propaganda” warning label or have my comment identify why it is propaganda and how they are lying.

I stopped watching Fox years ago so I have no clue what they are doing.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

My point is that, on a broader scale, we Americans often cite sources like The New York Times and The Washington Post, which grants them undue legitimacy.

Straw man. Not worth my time.

[Myrddin]

I’ll bet you wish you’d had YouTube back then!!

It didn't exist in the late 60s. I was perfectly happy to pull out repair manuals. I was competent at electrical wiring by age 10. Satisfactory in natural gas plumbing and soldering copper pipes to replace a water heater. Youtube would have been nice, but you use what you have. I rode my bicycle 15 miles to an HVAC shop to purchase a replacement gas valve for my home furnace. The cheap fix with a new thermocouple didn't resolve the problem. It was a failed valve. The replacement was OEM spec and did the job. It was nice to have heat again in the house.

[Reily]

Poor comparison!

We now have a farce of a Prussian-style system.

Your examples are like comparing cars at a junk yard with functioning performing cars. The only similarity is the junk cars are roughly the same shape as working cars.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Plank #10 of the Communist Manifesto: "Free education of all children in public schools..."

https://mises.org/mises-daily/marxism-lives

[Myrddin]

During my employment at Marine Electric Co in San Diego, my boss sent me to a foreign tuna seiner. The VHF radio wasn't working. My boss said, "It will take you 5 minutes. You won't need tools". Not so. It was a German VHF radio with full duplex capability on the marine operator frequencies. No transmit. The repair manual was onboard the boat. In German of course. No problem. I speak sufficent German to deal with the manual. 10 minutes on my bench and I found the culprit. It was necessary to order a replacement part from Germany. Just over a week later, the part arrived. A few minutes of effort to install it. Bingo! Working radio. Back to the boat.

The comment, "It will take you 5 minutes. You won't need tools" became something of a meme in the office. Fair warning that you may be facing a bigger issue than expected.

[Reily]

There are always a very small minority of kids who can rise above any system and do well.

They are the equivalent of scrouged parts from our current junkyard system that actually can be cobbled together to make a car! Not enough to be build a modern society on! Unless we deliberately want to make a society where a vast majority of those kids stay at the medieval peasant level. That’s what effectively we are doing now!

[MayflowerMadam]

“It didn’t exist in the late 60s.”

Right. That’s why I said you probably wish it did. :)

“I was perfectly happy to pull out repair manuals.”

That’s me. I’d much rather READ a manual than watch a video. My brain learns better that way.

[Reily]

Even a blind squirrel stumbles onto an acorn occasionally.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

What a load of crap.

This article is essentially arguing for less structured school, fewer rules and standards, etc. In other words, accelerating what has been going on in most schools for years. And yet, the generation going to school under those standard is, by their own admission, less able to cope.

Logically, the writers should be arguing to return schools to the more strict standards of 30-40 years ago. But they're arguing for even .ore "gentle parenting" in schools. What they ignore is that

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Contradicts itself in the same paragraph:

Giving kids agency doesn’t mean letting them do whatever they want. It doesn’t mean lowering expectations, turning education into entertainment or allowing children to choose their own adventure.

Okay, but then....

It means requiring them to identify and pursue some of their own goals, helping them build strategies to reach those goals, assessing their progress and guiding them to course-correct when they fall short.

So it really is "choose your own adventure", which translate into eliminating mandatory classes like math, science, English, or any other core subject that the kid decides isn't "fun".

[Fresh Wind]

On the other hand, they like to come in late, leave early, complain about the challenging workload and grouse about low pay.

And they like to spend hours every day on their phones. That's always more important than their jobs.

[Rockingham]

My brother saw the same thing in his company’s most recent round of hiring. As a large white collar company with a favorable reputation and good pay and working conditions, they could be and were selective but found it hard to get capable new hires. The directors and managers were tearing their hair out over the problem.

[No name given]

There’s that, as well.

[heavy metal]

if kids are adult enough at age 18 to be drafted in the military they’re adult enough to drink alcoholic beverages...

[Myrddin]

That’s me. I’d much rather READ a manual than watch a video. My brain learns better that way.

Youtube has saved me much trouble for certain issues. My wife purchased a new semi-auto pistol. After a range trip, it was time to field strip and clean. Surprise! It has a very long, snaky spring inside. Nothing simple like a Glock or S&W. The magic solution to getting it back inside was to use a cleaning rod from a .17 caliber cleaning kit. The rod can be pushed through the front of the frame and the snaky spring is then pushed over the rod and guided back to where it belongs in the frame. Simple if you observe and follow the technique.