A Generation of Texters

I used to think that it was terrible on the kids part that our kids today were growing up with better abilities to text than to communicate face-to-face.  It was the parents fault for allowing too much tech time and not enough talk time.

Then my daughter started kindergarten.

There is no time during the day that children are allowed to freely speak and socialize anymore.  

Waiting in line?  Better not be talking.  Eating breakfast or lunch?  Quiet.  Hallways? Silence.  Bus rides?  No chatting.

Our kids are not allowed to talk anywhere save the playground for 15-20 minutes.

No wonder our kids can't talk and their oral skills are lacking.  They only rarely get to exercise those abilities.

Our kids get time to speak when answering questions or delivering papers.  They will be great in the professional world but socially the foundation is set for failure.

Pre-k we have open discussions over meals, an hour of uninterrupted social play, and more.  After that, we stop and stunt.  We could hope for repair in their social language skills by middle or high school but by that time is when they begin to type and text.  The foundation time is lost to behavior management.

We think divorce rates are high and blame the people getting married, but they never really learned how to appropriately communicate socially or emotionally.  

I understand a need for keeping a calm environment but we need a social one as well.  Now not every school is this strict.  I know that from my school.  My educational philosophy is that elementary education is the foundation.  

I'm worried about my daughters foundation.