Kids these days...

Today I attended an assembly at my son's school.  I attended because the students in grades 2-8 were performing for the school and parents, and I wanted to see what that was about.  My son is in kindergarten.  Someday, that will be him on stage, so I wanted to see it.

One thing that drives me nuts about his school is that it doesn't seem to be very organized.  So, although they invited parents to attend the assembly, they were not set up to accommodate them.  I ended up standing in the aisle alongside the 7th graders.  Apparently, they were also not really expecting the kindergartners, because the principal seemed concerned that they were taking up space where the 1st and 2nd graders were supposed to be sitting.

Anyway, each grade got up on the stage and performed a song or two with a small introduction to the piece by the teacher of that grade.  The first few groups did admirably.  Unfortunately, as the assembly progressed I couldn't help but be distracted by the constant chatter and movement of the 7th graders sitting next to where I was standing.  

Eventually I got annoyed enough to go speak to one group of girls that were doing a lot of chatting and messing around.  I explained that it was only respectful of them to quietly listen to the other performers if they wanted that same response to their performance.  After that, they quieted.

But a couple of songs later I was again annoyed by the talking in the row behind them.  Again, 7th graders, but this time it was the teacher commenting to one of his students about the song being performed.  I was appalled.  This entire class was restless, disruptive, and constantly whispering, but they were 12-13 years old.  This was the teacher!  After watching him for a while, and not catching his eye, I finally told him to be quiet.  I even said "aren't you a teacher?".  He apologized and shut up.

When they got up to perform, it was evident that his whole class was apathetic to the process.  Of all the grades performing, his was the only one that had very little participation or preparation.  None of the boys in his class chose to sing, and the teacher didn't even seem to know the words of the song he had chosen.  This, after professing a love of music, of starting each day with music, and of being proud to watch his class play instruments and learn new songs.

After the performance, a couple of girls ended up with the sticks they had used to keep time.  Watching as one of the girls relentlessly poked every person around her with the stick, I finally went over and took it away and gave it back to the teacher.

I constantly worry about the behavior of my son.  Not being in many situations where sitting quietly is required, I worry about him learning this skill.  He's been to performances and concerts, and is getting better as he gets older, but sitting still is still something he struggles with.  During this assembly, he sat quietly among his kindergarten peers in the front, without any direct adult supervision.  However, this group of preteens and their teacher had yet to master the respect of appreciating the performances of their schoolmates.

By the end, I just wanted to get out of there, and hope to shout that he doesn't get this teacher when he gets to the upper grades.  Where has the respect gone?  I know that kids today are not taught the respect we learned as children.  That is considered somehow repressive to their spirit.  But is that really true?  Aren't we doing them a grave disservice by downplaying the importance of common decency?