Deceptive “Memes”–Education

Disclaimer: I strongly dislike the corruption of “meme” to indicate some pithy (and usually plain flat wrong, or at least deceptive) propaganda presented as a graphic-quote.

meme: An element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation.

That’s the primary definition, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, and–mirabile dictu!–Wikipedia even gets it right in its article on Memetics.

Still, here’s a highly deceptive Internet “meme” *gagamaggot*

teacher-meme

Well, the numbers are highly slanted, though the underlying concept is fairly sound. The “time at home vs. time at school” is a false metric. Time under parental instruction/admonition/example vs time under influence by the schools would be a better way to compare things. Time at home/ostensibly under parental influence (admonition/instruction/example) is ~3,000 hours less than depicted, just from time “lost” to normal nightly sleep alone. And time under the influence of school is around 50% more than depicted above (ex: our local school district does NOT have the kids for only 5 hours per day for a state-mandated 180 days/year–or 900 hours; that’s just silly “math”), not even counting school-sponsored extracurricular activities supervised by teaching staff and Summer School (another month-long instructional period that, at least in our local district, is HIGHLY attended) OR the time lost to parental supervision accounted for in busing kids to and from school.

Still, it’s quite obvious to me that parents SHOULD exercise the greatest influence on their children’s upbringing, and when one observes kids in school or other settings, it’s almost always quite easy to tell which parents are really parenting their children.

Just did a lil bit more number crunching, with input from my school librarian Wonder Woman. Yes, not counting extra-curricular school-sponsored activities, bus time, etc., parents do (or should) have a bit more than three times the amount of conscious time influencing their children than schools do, over the course of a year, not nearly nine times, as the quote in the graphic deceptively states. AND, children are (or should be) primarily the parents’ responsibility to raise “in the nurture and admonition” of [parental values]. Unfortunately, parents (and “parents”) DO raise their children to hold their values, pretty much, just by example alone, whether they plan to or not. For many “parents” that means abdicating responsibility. . . for darned near everything.


Of course, I am firmly of the opinion that (conscious) time “under the influence of their own parents” should include a LOT of “free play” for grade/elementary school kids–time when they can explore, invent, and just goof off on their own or with other kids. Many (MANY) young kids (grade/elementary school age and younger) today spend WAY too much time in structured activities, and far, far too little time just being kids. The “influence” exerted by parents who give their kids such time can be that of encouraging responsibility, liberty and creativity, among other virtues (the reader is invited to consider others).

2 Replies to “Deceptive “Memes”–Education”

    1. Ljon,

      I see you are from Java. I applaud your use of English and can only encourage you to grow in English literacy.

      You are, why I “hate” the word “meme” (or at least, that is how I take your question). The answer is both simple and a little complex. “Meme” is a word that now has two meanings: its original meaning and a corrupted meaning foisted on English by less-than-literate Internet users. I strongly dislike the misuse of the term to mean a simple graphic with a text caption, as has become normative on the Internet in recent years, since the word was created to serve a specific meaning in the field of sociology. See the information at the link below for a more detailed treatment, though you may simply refer to my precis here, if you do not wish to simply reread the proffered definition in the post:

      A meme, in the original sense, is an idea, a concept, or a behavior that is widely spread in a given culture.

      Internet “memes” of the type that are simply graphics with captions intended to spread an idea, concept, or behavior within a given culture are attempts to create a meme where no such exists, a very different thing from the sociological term that was created specifically to describe widespread ideas, concepts, or behaviors.

      In a very real sense, the widespread creation of these aspiring memes is itself a genuine meme.

      “Meme” at Wikipedia

      In a larger sense, I deplore the misuse of words by those who are less-than-literate, because of two factors:

      1. Such use tends to transmit meaning poorly
      2. In our Intrernet/social media age, poor information seems to spread more quickly and widely than good information, a sort of Gresham’s Law of Literacy, I suppose. *sigh*

      Now, if you meant by your question to ask why I strongly dislike the so-called “meme” I displayed in my post, I would think that rereading what I said about why I dislike it would serve.

      Thanks for reading and for asking.

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