Losing our grip: More students entering school without fine motor skills

Lancaster Online ^ | Oct 26, 2015 | KIMBERLY MARSELAS

[nightlight7]

The FR server software still has that bug that appeared recently in its code for conversion to UTF8.

[cripplecreek]

Today's children also spend less time outside, where they might have more opportunities to explore how their bodies move through space, learn to balance and figure how to handle toys and tools in relation to one another.

When I was a kid I was always outside and even today I spend at least a few minutes of every waking hour outside.

[Crazieman]

I find this odd, considering the fine motor skills required in sniping people in only a couple hundred video games; all on PC, XBOX, PSX, and Nintendo.

Believe me, I know, having spent a considerable amount of skill determining wind, gravity, and air resistance on Battlefield 3 and 4 for 1500+ yard sniper shots.

[ETL]

Via an e-mail some years ago, with some minor modification by myself...

Teaching Math In 1950:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1960:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math In 1970:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

Teaching Math In 1980:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20 Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math In 2010:
A logger cuts down some beautiful forest trees because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living?
________________________________

[cripplecreek]

Believe me, I know, having spent a considerable amount of skill determining wind, gravity, and air resistance on Battlefield 3 and 4 for 1500+ yard sniper shots.

Now try it while laying dead still in the mud for 10 or 12 hours in the freezing rain while an enemy sniper seeks to kill you permanent dead. Throw in some hunger, enemy patrols wandering around you and the need to take a dump and we'll see how good your fine motor skills are.

[polymuser]

“I need to pacify these bothersome kids with TV or their tablet. I just don’t care or have the energy to pay attention to them, I just want to chill with my drink and text my BFFs.”

American women strike again. Pitiful state they’ve put us in, with their neglected daycare-raised children, broken marriages, feminist attitudes and who they’ve voted for. Sorry, gals, but it’s reality that’s hurting our nation.

[ThanhPhero]

My goddaughter in Việt Nam at 22 months held a pencil the way an American adult holds one, at least before the schools started to teach kids to hold pencils in their fists like toddlers do. She could feed herself with chopsticks and eat soup with a spoon without spilling it, indeed I watched her transfer soup with a spoon from one bowl to another while standing on the chair and leaning over the table without spilling. She could accurately kick or throw a soft rubber ball across the room to someone and could catch it. I fear I am too old to see her education through properly but I will send the funds necessary to keep her in a good Catholic school which her parents love (they are Buddhist) because it really pushes the bright kids more than the government schools do though they do a better job than most American schools do now.

[ZULU]

Stupid government owned sheep don’t need thumbs. :)

[NonValueAdded]

Yes, it is getting quite tedious.

Note the avoidance of using the contraction.

[rdcbn]

A big component of this loss of fine motor skills is due to drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy,especially in the welfare classes

Fetal drug and alcohol syndrome is epidemic in the black urban welfare ghettos and poor fine motor skills are one result of fetal exposure to drugs and booze

So are low IQ, attention deficit, poor reasoning capability, poor impulse control and poor anger management skills

[Mr Ramsbotham]

When my kids were about seven months old, I'd put them in a high chair, cover them with a huge bib, then set a big bowl of baby cereal mixed with fruit in front of them along with a spoon. The hand would grab the spoon, the spoon would inevitably go into the mouth, and a wonderful, messy discovery was made. They were feeding themselves in no time flat. I recall people in a restaurant being very impressed that my one-year-old was eating with a fork.

Any kid can learn this way, but you've got to have the patience to put up with the mess.

[knarf]

What?

Check that finger action on the celphones ...

WIZARDS !!!

[Mouton]

Unfortunately most of them seem to grasp the concept of operating a trigger or knife.

[EinNYC]

So are low IQ, attention deficit, poor reasoning capability, poor impulse control and poor anger management skills.

You just described most of the urban ghetto students I've seen. They get in their own way when it comes to academic success because of these things. Many times you have to coax them not to just walk out of the classroom or to remain in their seats. You have to ask them to open their notebooks and encourage them to read short passages. When I was a kid in school, I read everything, everywhere. You couldn't keep me from reading. These kids act like it's a death sentence to have to read a few passages and then--oh horrors!--write a few paragraphs. You have to specify that the paragraphs must consist of complete sentences, too. It's very sad. And you have to wonder how these kids are possibly going to replace US.

[Varda]

You hit the nail on the head. Two months old is when the women in my office abandon their kids in daycare. They call it school.

The husbands are no better, they approve of it. They need to live in better neighborhoods doncha know.

[Rodamala]

but I bet they can all play Candy Crush just fine.

[Crazieman]

Oh, I understand what really goes in to real life scenarios.

But here we’re going over simple hand-eye coordination, many of whom would fail the mental calculations needed in a ‘simple’ video game.

[randita]

I’ve heard from Kindergarten teachers that it’s pretty common for children starting classes to not even know alphabet letters and numbers.

[WHBates]

Bump for later