Work is Not a Four-Letter Word
I really need your help about something. Over the many years I’ve been teaching, my students have always been some of the smartest, kindest, most want-to-do-the-right-thing people I’ve ever met. Lately, however, I’ve seen an attitude that causes me much concern. (Before we continue, I have a disclaimer. What I’m about to say does not apply to all my students, just enough to make me worry.)
Too many times my students seem to be equating the word “work” with something to be avoided like the proverbial plague. I guess I own some of this because I refer to their efforts as work, as in schoolwork, research work, artwork, presentation work. I do that because I want them to understand that everything they do that helps their learning is important. To continue the metaphor, school is their job and when they come to their jobs, we hope they will do good work. Simple, or so I thought.
What concerns me is that what seems to be most important to my students is how fast they can get something done instead of “look how much I’ve learned about this” or “wow – I didn’t know that before.” Somewhere along the line, we have let our children become disenchanted with the process of discovery and exploration. We adults have taken away the curiosity, the excitement of “finding out” the whys and wherefores all the world has to offer.
How could this have happened? Well, in a large sense, our society seems to be focused on leisure time and how much we can get of it for our leisure activities. We seem to have moved from talking about our jobs as something which we are proud to be participating in, to something we resent taking up our time. Think about the past week. How many times have we heard someone (maybe ourselves?) say “my job is just too stressful right now,” “my boss doesn’t appreciate all I do at work,” “I put in all this time, and I’m underpaid.” When’s the last time you heard someone say, “I love my work and I wouldn’t be doing anything else?” When’s the last time your children heard that?
We all know our children pay attention to what we talk about and we’ve all seen our children model our talk and our behavior. So, is it possible that this attitude they have developed regarding their “work” is something we might have contributed to? Is there a way to talk a little more about our accomplishments at work and our pride in them? Is there a way to talk to our children about how important their work really is to their learning? Maybe by asking questions about what they are “working on”? Maybe not saying so many times “is it Friday yet”? Positive attitudes are an important part of a person’s success and, for our children, I believe it can be priceless.
What do you think?
