The dunderheads in the education profession apparently feel they haven't caused enough damage. Now they want to do away with best friends:
But increasingly, some educators and other professionals who work with children are asking a question that might surprise their parents: Should a child really have a best friend?
[. . .]
I think it is kids' preference to pair up and have that one best friend. As adults — teachers and counselors — we try to encourage them not to do that,” said Christine Laycob, director of counseling at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis. “We try to talk to kids and work with them to get them to have big groups of friends and not be so possessive about friends.”
“Parents sometimes say Johnny needs that one special friend,” she continued. “We say he doesn't need a best friend.
[. . .]
“I don't think it's particularly healthy for a child to rely on one friend,” said Jay Jacobs, the camp's director. “If something goes awry, it can be devastating. It also limits a child's ability to explore other options in the world.”
By all means, less discourage emotional intimacy and push all these kids into having lots and lots of superficial relationships. That'll get them off on the right track! The story quotes tactful psychologists who "fear that" such an attitude will "deny children" the "strong emotional support and security" they need. Gee, ya think?
Comments
Let me guess, all these dunderheads were "hatched" into full adulthood and never had ANY friends, let alone a best friend. The "best" friends I had a various stages of my growing up were a good thing as far as I am concerned, but, hey, I'm not normal, we already know that, ... :-)
The cool thing about high school was that we were allowed to have several "best" friends -- e.g. one to go fishing with, one to hang out after school with, etc. -- and it didn't seem strange to us.
Guys:
We've already SEEN the evidence of having people screw up the lives of our children with tripe such as this...
It produces screwed-up children (DUH) who become screwed-up ADULTS, right?
I'm just sayin'...
To really produce better-educated kids, we should eliminate all property taxes. After all, as you have pointed out, more taxes just mean more waste.
After all, the states that spend the least on education have the highest achieving students. Oh, wait a minute. I may have that backwards. I'll get back to you.
Perhaps the general idea is to teach the kiddies to think like a "group". Much easier to control the masses when they've all been "trained" to respond similarly.