What value do we place on a child’s time?

[coberst]

What value do we place on a child’s time?

Labor has been commodified in the American culture.

I would guess that the average working person makes about $30 an hour. That would be $1200 per week and about $60,000 per year.

The average big corporate CEO makes about 500 times the average worker thus they make about $15,000 per hour.

How do we determine how much we value the time of a child? I guess we might say that a K-12 teacher makes average wages and has about 30 children in their classroom thus we value a child’s time at about $1 per hour.

Do we evaluate a child’s time too highly or too lowly? I think that we place too little value on a child’s time.

The lower we place the value of a child’s time the more likely will a parent or teacher spend less time with that child. The lower value we place on a child’s time the more willing we are to allow that child to “waste time”.

Adolescence appears to be something that has developed late in our culture. A hundred years ago a child became an adult at 16 and today that age often extends to the early to mid 20s.

 

[sky2979]

Working and bringing income home is a necessity now in days...its a must...and due to that, our children miss out on valuable and quality time with parents....communication between children and parents is extremly essential but due to such responsibilities that is being over looked..As an educator the most important piece of advice I can give is that instead of getting over-whelmed with house work, and unecessary errands,...instead make that short amount of time that parents have with their children as most valuable as possible..interact with one another, read a book, turn the t.v. off, play ball in the backyard, snack together, or just simply cuddle on the couch and take the family album out........I have to say that I feel extremly lucky and priviliaged to teach and have my children attend the same school, so I have the opportunity to interact with them on a daily basis, and I also get to go home with them every day after school...Unfortunatly, most of our children do not....I can't emphasize enough "communication, communication, communication" between a family is extremely important and I gurantee a diffrence will be noted...

 

[pixiedustboo]

Do we evaluate a child’s time too highly or too lowly? I think that we place too little value on a child’s time.

The lower we place the value of a child’s time the more likely will a parent or teacher spend less time with that child. The lower value we place on a child’s time the more willing we are to allow that child to “waste time”.

Adolescence appears to be something that has developed late in our culture. A hundred years ago a child became an adult at 16 and today that age often extends to the early to mid 20s.

Good post. I also agree with you.

It is hard in this day and age to be a stay home mother/father and in many places it's just not something that can be a serious option due to prices of housing and bills, etc. I personally feel it will be my job to stay home with my children. No matter what happens I will be there to raise my children. (This doesn't mean I think a mother who works isn't "raising" her children, and it's something totally different in a broken household, but me personally I feel very strongly that when I have children it will be my first priority and considering I'm planning on having several if I were planning on doing day care I would be paying a day care just about my entire wage depending on what area I lived in).

The day care system (also known now as "school") is also failing with flying colors. Because there are so many children in the class everyone in between the best student and the worst student gets overlooked because the teachers are overwhelmed with all of the idiotic curriculum's and testing they have to get through.



p.s. I think a lot of the "time value" one puts on children is turning into a money value with parents. If they aren't able to spend an evening with their children they compensate for that through gifts.

I know people hear this time and time again, yet they blow it off time and time again; kids would rather have the PARENT than to have every luxury item there is out there.

 

[coberst]

Our society commodifies labor thus the dollar value of time is a normal mode for determining value.

The more valuable a society considers a child's time to be the better care they make of the child's time. And the more valuable a child's time the less inclined a parent is to trade the time with the child for a minimum wage job.

If we placed a higher value on a child's time we could better recognize the importance of a good education.

Let us say that we felt that a child's time was worth $100 per hour. Would parents treat that child the same as if they set a value at $1? Would we value education at a much greater value? Would we value a teacher at a much greater value? Would a mother go to work at a minimum wage salary except in the most urgent need? Would we allow teens to waste so much time on non sense?


We are meaning creating creatures. As such the culture that we have created leaves much to be desired. I am convinced that if we do not change our culture very soon we will soon become toast. I think that the only avenue available for us is to convince adults to become self-actualizing self-learners in the hope that this will dramatically improve our overall level of intellectual sophistication.

I think that we can no longer afford the luxury of such an extended period of childhood behavior on the part of children. This generation and all future generations have little time left to correct the errors made by past generations. We are at or have passed a tipping point.

My fundamental premise is that the American citizens, as a group, are not intellectually sophisticated enough to comprehend the large number of catastrophic problems bearing down on us. If my premise is correct will this same population have sufficient sophistication to recognize this fact and to do something about it?

New theories in the natural sciences go immediately into the culture because there is often money in it. New theories in the human sciences take generations to reach the general culture. Our society is driven by technology and there is no way that we can intellectually keep up such that we can manage this terrible power that we have created unless somehow we can convince adults that they can no longer place their intellect with their year book in the attic when their school daze are over.

 

[The Other Guy]

The lower we place the value of a child’s time the more likely will a parent or teacher spend less time with that child. The lower value we place on a child’s time the more willing we are to allow that child to “waste time”.

Adolescence appears to be something that has developed late in our culture. A hundred years ago a child became an adult at 16 and today that age often extends to the early to mid 20s.

Well, we manage to make that child as miserable as possible in the process, so of course the kid wants to "waste time."

Adolescence is purely subjective to the older persons. A human is fully functional as an adult by age 13, but this human is not given full rights until he or she is 21. As adults, we underestimate how much our kids really know and understand, and we're working ourselves into a hole because of it.

The day care system (also known now as "school") is also failing with flying colors. Because there are so many children in the class everyone in between the best student and the worst student gets overlooked because the teachers are overwhelmed with all of the idiotic curriculum's and testing they have to get through.

I disagree. The teachers spend so much time trying to get the middle to lower end up higher that it is the top that is totally ignored, and it is them who end up being left behind, in a way.

 

[A Can of Man]

Quite honestly there should be a different school for the top few percent. Bringing the average up is important and it cannot be ignored. Basically it's the non hackers that must be dragged through the education system kicking and screaming. It is a teacher's duty to make sure that by the end of their high school graduation, they walk out with *something*.

 

[senojekips]

Children per se, are not part of the labour market, they are "Children" and therefore their rate of pay (Which is what you have been talking about) is not quantified.

There are different expectations and different outcomes for children.

Effectively once they start working for remuneration their status changes, they are no longer children, but young adults or whatever name you wish to call them.

 

[sky2979]

It is a teacher's duty to make sure that by the end of their high school graduation, they walk out with *something*.

And that it is my friend....that it is...:thumb:

 

[pixiedustboo]

I disagree. The teachers spend so much time trying to get the middle to lower end up higher that it is the top that is totally ignored, and it is them who end up being left behind, in a way.

I agree with this point, I meant in the teachers mind...they do not ever think of the "between" children.

They fondly think of the hard workers and work hard to keep the bad ones in line...and no one notices the in between at all.



...but I do see where you are coming from, and yes, the students that excel are losing something.

 

[sky2979]

I agree with this point, I meant in the teachers mind...they do not ever think of the "between" children.

They fondly think of the hard workers and work hard to keep the bad ones in line...and no one notices the in between at all.



...but I do see where you are coming from, and yes, the students that excel are losing something.

I disagree....now in days we have programs designed especially for those children who excel to the highest level,...to receive the attention and the best quality education our districts offer...also, we have so many programs that have been implemented, to reach the high, in between, and lower children all excellent intervensions designed for every individual's need....school district policies, and intervensions have changed so much in the last 5 years....while am still against all the state testing, I totally support these special education programs that are offered today...

 

[pixiedustboo]

I disagree....now in days we have programs designed especially for those children who excel to the highest level,...to receive the attention and the best quality education our districts offer...also, we have so many programs that have been implemented, to reach the high, in between, and lower children all excellent intervensions designed for every individual's need....school district policies, and intervensions have changed so much in the last 5 years....while am still against all the state testing, I totally support these special education programs that are offered today...

Well maybe your district is different because I know within my mom's school it's the ones that are the good kids and the in-between that suffer.

 

[sky2979]

Well maybe your district is different because I know within my mom's school it's the ones that are the good kids and the in-between that suffer.

True..it definetly has to do a lot with the kind of standards and programs the school district has to offer...I am very lucky to work for a school district that strives only in the best intrest of each students academic career... But remember it also depends greatly on the teachers perseverance to reach every child...some teachers do, and others fail greatly....A teacher definetly, has the power to make a diffrence...

 

[coberst]

I suspect that home schoolers place greater value on their children's time than do the rest of us. Of course, much of the reason for home schooling is religious. It is obvious that Americans give little thought to the importance of education considering how wealth our nation is and how poor our educational system.

I have tried to quantify the unquantifiable. I am trying to judge a quality with quantity. This is just trying to focus attention on some important considerations that we seldom examine. People take notice when we talk about dollar evaluation because it is easily understood.

I suspect that home schoolers place greater value on their children's time than do the rest of us. Of course, much of the reason for home schooling is religious. It is obvious that Americans give little thought to the importance of education considering how wealth our nation is and how poor our educational system.

For such a wealthy nation America has a very poor educational system. I hope that Obama will change all that. What is required is to awaken the citizens to the dire situation that we are in.