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*
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).
