A new survey has found that 2 in 3 parents think that the kids today are smarter than they were when they were younger. When it comes to “smart,” everyone has their own baseline on what they consider to be smart, and typically, adults will always assume that they are smarter than children. This is likely due to lived experience and more schooling, but when adults stop to think, they could realize that the children of today may actually be smarter than they are given credit for, and this could be due to their access to an online world. They have endless amounts of information at their fingertips and they are using it to their advantage.
According to Study Finds, the majority of parents think that their children are smarter than they were when they were that age. This was shown through a survey of 2,000 parents of children between the ages of 5 and 14 years old. It was conducted by OnePoll, on behalf of BYJU.
The main goal of this survey was to look at the differences between how mom and dad learned when they were kids versus how children are learning now.
- 65% of parents think that their children are “lucky” with the current learning environment they have
- More than half (54%) nodded towards remote learning as a perk
- Another majority (58%) stated that they think it was hard for them to stay engaged when they were learning due to how they were taught in school
Schooling has changed over the years, and a lot of parents experienced learning as sitting at a desk and listening to lectures all day. School tends to be more “hands-on” now, making learning fun and easier to grasp. It was a lot of memorizing, and 38% of parents said that this was the most disliked part of learning.
Due to the changes in how children are taught, parents are more inclined to think that their children are smarter than they were because they are better able to focus in class and take in the information. This also means that parents are more inclined to accept different methods of teaching, such as the use of video games to teach, because they have an understanding and appreciation for this type of learning because they may have wished that they had those opportunities when they were younger. They are even open to screen time, with 38% said that they would be in favor of educational shows and movies being used in the classroom.
Sources: Study Finds, OnePoll, BYJU