When I picked him up on Friday, my daughter gave me his school bookbag, with instructions that he has a book report due on Tuesday, on Healthy Eating. (Why do they give something like that to a 7 yr old?) My grandson and I went out on Saturday to do some errands, and to go get a birthday present for him, and while we were out, I looked for a suitable book for him to do his report on. It was so strange, I couldn’t find any book in the children’s section that had food as a subject, (except Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham!) let alone one on Healthy Eating. I finally decided that we were going to do one on Dr. Suess; not on food itself, but on the moral of the story, which is you should always try new foods before you refuse to eat them. (I thought it was a good idea.)
We went home to get started on the book report. The first thing I did, (which I admit I should have done before we ever went to the store) was read the instructions the teacher had sent home with them. On the paper it says for them to read 3 books on Healthy Eating, and write the title and author of the books on the sheet provided. Then on the back, it says to draw a picture of their favorite food, and write a sentence describing what it looks like. Then they’re to write a sentence telling what it tastes like, and when they eat it and who makes it for them. That’s their book report.
Now, I can see the "read 3 books and write their names" part. The part that didn’t make sense is, describing your favorite food is not a ‘book report’, not the way I was taught to write them!
Well, I called my daughter to ask her about it, and we started talking about how his book report instructions are usually phrased, and what he usually does to complete them. Suddenly she says, "The part where it says for him to read 3 books? We usually cheat on that part; we just find 3 books and write the name of it and the author." Huh? You CHEAT on it? What kind of lesson does that give a 7 year old, to your SON? Now normally I let things go with my daughter; if I disagree with something she says about raising my grandson, I let it go because he’s her son, not mine, and she is entitled to raise him the way she thinks is right. This one I couldn’t let go though, because it’s definitely going to hurt him in the long run. First of all, he’s already having problems with reading in school, and my daughter has told me more than once that I need to have him spend time reading when he’s here. Second, teaching him to do just enough work to get by just isn’t right. When I said something to her about it, she suddenly backtracked and said "It’s not cheating, I’m teaching him that there are other, easier ways of doing things." Okay, showing him other methods is fine, but in this case, IMO, he should be doing what the teacher says to do, PERIOD. My daughter said "Well, they never ask them about the books they read, so why should he spend time reading books for nothing?" I couldn’t say a word. How do I get her to understand why she should teach him to follow instructions, and have him read the books he’s told to read, if she doesn’t see the value of reading herself?
I know my daughter enjoys reading, I’ve seen her buy books, and she’s recommended books to me that she really liked. (Unfortunately, our taste in books is not the same, she likes those African-American modern authors like Terry McMillan, and who’s the one who writes the almost-porn books? I like some African-American authors, like Walter Mosely, Eric Jerome Dickey, and James Baldwin, but I also like more mainstream authors like Stephen King, and Tim LaHaye and Frank Peretti.) Since she likes reading though, why would she not want to encourage her son to read? We had a conversation not long ago about the fact that he watches too much television, (and he does, WAAAAY too much!) and that he needed to be limited in how much he’s allowed to watch. It’s my opinion that he needs to spend at least some of that time reading, even though he looks like I killed his dog when I tell him no TV, no DVD, no video games, it’s time to pick up a book.
It just totally amazed me to hear my daughter say "We cheat a little bit"; I had never imagined that when it came to him, she would do something like that. I guess it gives me a clearer picture of why kids in elementary school are the way they are though, especially (and I’m not being racist here, it’s just a fact) black children. Kids from other cultures, like Indian and Asian kids, are usually pushed more when it comes to academia; in some cases they’re pushed too hard, but the importance of an education is constantly being impressed upon them. Unfortunately, the average American child is not brought up that way; to them, education is just something to be suffered through until they can officially quit, and it’s something to put on the resume when they’re job-hunting. They don’t understand the value of an education, that it’s something to be eagerly sought after, handled with care while you’re getting it, and treasured once you have it. It’s something that you can’t just get, and then forget about; you have to continually polish it to keep it sharp, and add to it so that it never becomes outdated or obsolete. The kids are never going to understand that though if the parents don’t teach it to them.
As for my grandson’s book report, well, we’re going to the library today, and we’re going to pick up a couple of books on Healthy Eating. Since I have to take him back to day, there isn’t time for him to read all of them completely, but he IS going to at least read a chapter in each one. If I thought my daughter would do it, I’d check the books out and send them home with him, because he still has the rest of today and all day tomorrow to read them, but I don’t think she’ll make him do it. I’m going to do what I can though to at least make sure that he knows what the books are about, instead of just knowing the title and author; he’s not going to do just enough to get by.
And that’s Live From Bikini Bottom…..
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