Socialisation.
What images does the word bring up? Does images of Sex and the City come to mind- with glamorous ladies dressed to the nines sitting in a swanky restaurant or club having cosmos and then dancing the night away come up? Or does the image of children having fun on a playground come up instead? Or does the image of young mums and dads taking their newly acquired puppy to "Puppy School" come up. For me it's the latter. For me dogs are 'socialised' -not kids. Kids are raised and lead by what they see others doing. Children learn what is acceptable behaviour in our community through observations and interactions. What is acceptable in one group may be different in another group. For example, the language considered okay on the football field would not be acceptable at a church picnic.
It's this 'learning what is acceptable' that is one of the issues I have with mainstream schooling. Behaviour and language are the main areas lowered over my time teaching.
The language you can hear in schools is a good example of how the standard of what is considered normal is slowly getting lowered.
I remember in my first year of teaching a little girl in Grade 2 telling me this joke. Her-Knock, knock. Me- Who's there Her- Bare Me- Bare who- Bare bum." (Add giggle) Yes, the word bum was in the joke. At the time this was considered to be inappropriate at my school and we discussed what words she could have used instead of the word bum....Well last year we had students at my school joking about funny names like "Isma Harerite" sounds like "Is my hair right." Well one boy came out with "Mike Hunt." If you haven't heard it before can you please work it out yourself! Some of the children didn't get it, but the boy quickly attempted to explain why it was funny- before it was put a stop to. Now there is a group of students who've gone home with a new word! Since I've started teaching inappropriate language has gone from bum and bitch to F and C! Time and time again I've seen parent dismiss their child's inappropriate behaviour as 'normal' and therefore acceptable. A prime example is aggressive behaviour in the yard (and in school in general.) Once while I was on yard duty I came across a group of young male students around 5-6 years of age who were playing 'prisoners.' I initially thought nothing of it as I could remember kids playing 'cops and robbers' when I was in primary school so I therefore thought it was a game along the same lines. Well I was very wrong. As I watched the boys play I noticed that they were putting a library bag over the 'prisoners' heads. When I asked the boys why they were doing that they answered that it was because he was about to be 'executed.' They then proceeded to discuss what type the execution was going to take place that day. "Will we hang him, shoot him or chop his head off," they cried. When I discussed this with the boys' parents some were adamant that this was 'normal' behaviour for boys. What came to my mind was 'how does a five year old know what an execution is?' Why is this okay that a child who has been alive for five years knows what this is! Often children will see things on the television, in the media, at home that they deem to be normal. They then bring these 'normal' ideas to school, where they pass behaviours and language onto other children as being 'acceptable.' While in this instance they were 'only pretending,' what is a concern to me is that youngsters know about these adult concepts before they are able to process it. But more importantly because it normalizes violence and desensitizes them to the images they see.
On a side note, as a parent who is quite selective about what I let my boys watch, I am absolutely amazed at the number of "G" rated shows and movies that contain 'executions' or threatened executions. I'm not talking about the ones that are obviously on the more violent side, but rather the surprising ones. I can remember putting a movie on in the car when we were going on holidays. I believe the movie was "Wind in the Willows." You know the one with Toad, Badger, Mole etc dressed in human clothes singing and dancing... Well while I was driving along the highway I hear from the back seat "prepare the prisoner for execution." What! I nearly swerved off the road. Honestly, this was in a "G" rated movie. I don't think a movie with animals singing amd dancing is aimed at anyone other than young children but this was deemed acceptable. Ridiculous. After we came home from our trip I watched the movie by myself and sure enough there was a character being led off to the gallows! The execution never happened but I still have a problem with this. I've also heard an 'execution' reference in a Pacman television show. 
Another problem behaviour I'm concerned about is clothing. Yes, many if not most schools require students to wear uniforms to school. Inappropriate clothing comes out at every opportunity there is. A free dress day, sports day, swimming or school disco leads to a competition over who is "sexiest." This is not just limited to the older levels of the school but it can be seen in younger and younger grades. Can I just add here that I've never seen or heard about boys talking about which of their friends are looking "sexy" but they rather focus on who is cool or funky. I would by no means describe myself as conservative but I do however believe that girls should wear bathers that require more material than a large handkerchief. Short skirts, high heels, bare bellies and spaghetti straps just don't belong on any girl of primary school age. (Unless she is having fun in a dress up box.) There is peer pressure to keep up with their friends when it comes to clothes. The issue is that once one kid does it everyone else follows. Once everyone is doing it kids looks for new ways to push the envelope and this is how their clothing choices become raunchier and raunchier. 
Where this anti-social behaviour comes from is many and varied. I'm calling this anti social even though this behaviour is widely accepted as being normal because I don't think it should be considered to be okay. It comes from television, from video clips, from movies, from commercials, its what they hear at home and what they hear at school. I've lost count of how many parents of students in the younger years say to me 'they never did this kind of stuff before they went to school.' Especially if it was their first kid. I've discussed this with other parents- many of whom, again, say 'oh that's a normal phase.' What is a normal phase? To speak like a trucker? I don't think so. I would agree that even those children who've been raised in a non-swearing, well mannered environment, will be introduced to this type of behaviour in the school yard. Sad really. I hope that if we don't accept bad behaviour maybe it won't continue.... Don't worry- I'm laughing at myself too. You know the saying that goes something like "it takes a village to raise a child." Well I've seen the village and I don't want it raising my kid!
Again, I could talk about socialisation for ages. Enough for today. More another day.
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