[uros643]

The article's thesis is the polar opposite of my intuition on the matter: "All Play and No Work: Why Your Kids Are More Anxious, Depressed".

Knowing how to work (i.e. be proactive in their survival) allows kids to feel in control of their life. I equate ability to work with cognitive discipline, and note that depression is easy to succumb to when one is too weak for a change of attitude.

I propose such potential sources of work-shyness as: the illusory sense of accomplishment from video games; hedonism as default response to any emotional problem; escape into internet culture does not condition one's mind for what matters for survival in the real world; internet porn; last but not least, parents may not be able to communicate the appropriate wisdom. In short, too many stupefying distractions of the fast food variety, not enough structure.

It is better for kids to learn to discipline themselves as early on as possible, since it is harder to unlearn old habits as they grow older. It could make the difference between an ADHD diagnosis or not :)

Most importantly, work is a source of happiness, too.

[Tichy]

The article mentions that without free play, kids can not develop their own interests, which (my thinking) might leave them vulnerable to taking on unpleasant and unfulfilling jobs. The ability to be docile and execute orders does not really put you in control of your life, quite the opposite really. Yes, you need some continuity to build something complicated, but who knows, if you are really interested, you might be motivated enough without discipline.

Also, you assume that free playtime by children will automatically be spent on useless activities. While I am not convinced that there is nothing to learn from video games, I think kids will choose projects by themselves, and they will learn how to execute on their ideas.

[struppi]

Did you even bother to read the article? It is about free play - outdoors - that kids organize for themselves. And how they can learn self disciplin and social behaviour from that. Not about video games or any of the other stuff you wrote about. (I know, don't feed the trolls. SCNR.)

[guard-of-terra]

Useless and unresultative work is a source of mind boggling, crazy driving, heart breaking unhappiness.

And children are only allowed to that kinds of work.

When I was a child, my only agenda was that I wanted everybody around to stop bothering me so I would do what I wanted (and I wanted to read books and tinker with my PC).

I hated school work (which according to the article grew 145 percent), I hated school, I still loathe it and I would try and support anyone who argues its questionability, like the parent article.

(Happily for me I mostly got what I wanted, but I wasn't an american kid)

Children should be doing what they want, left mostly to themselves.

And by the way, you say ADHD as if it was something bad.

[Tichy]

My child is only one year old, but I already worry about the time he'll have to go to school all the time. I can only hope that I'll be able to make it bearable to turn it into something else. For starters I want to explore efficient learning mechanisms. Also, I see it maybe as a lesson in survival - it won't be possible to escape the "oppression" of society, so it will have to be a game to survive as unscathed as possible.

I don't think I will be able to afford alternative schools, although I will try.

[fleitz]

If you dislike the school system you'll love reading John Taylor Gatto.

ADHD is normal in a school setting, it's one of the most boring institutions on the planet, on par with a city jail.

I met the criteria for ADHD. However, when you have to give children the same class of drugs that cause people to find credit fraud interesting you know something is wrong with the school system and not the kids.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextroamphetamine This is what they had my friend on in Grade 7. Insanity.

"A meth user can stay awake for several days at a time, and is often content to perform repetitive tasks -- even having the patience to stitch together shredded documents."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4460349/ns/technology_and_scienc...

[Tichy]

Thanks for the book suggestion, ordered.

[michaelochurch]

I don't know what you mean by "work-shyness". My observation is that it's a bimodal setup. Kids who want (or, more appropriately, whose parents want for them) to have a future work a lot harder than they did 25 years ago. Those who have given up don't seem to be doing any school work.