THESE KIDS TODAY.

We were watching a TiVo'd episode of The Colbert Report tonight [one of the greatest shows ever] and the topic was how kids today are smarter than those of generations past. And how the video games they are playing are actually helping to make them smarter.

I hafta say, I think I may agree.

As someone who spends her days around kids, I definitely find them to be a whole lot more savvy than I was at that age. Keep in mind, I may have just been stupid. But sometimes my 12, 13 & 14-year old students say and do things that blow my mind. For instance, this year a group of 8th graders formed an independent organization to raise awareness of the situation in Darfur. They even went down to Washington DC for the rallies.

When I was in 8th grade, I was far too busy posting Ralph Macchio and Kirk Cameron pin-ups on my walls, and standing in line to get tickets for the "New Kids On The Block" concert to take notice of such trivialities as genocides in third-world nations.

And my students say really funny shit.

Like when we were up in Boston at the House of Seven Gables. I had a group of about 10 kids and we were being led on a tour of the house. Our tour guide was a little, old woman named Betsy - white hair, period clothing, the whole bit. The house was filled with tons of antiques, each bearing a small sign reading: "Circa [date]".

"Does anyone know what 'circa' means?" asked Betsy.
"Yeah - like when it was from," one of them answered.
"Right!"

As we moved on, I heard two of my students talking under their breath...

"When do you think Betsy's from?"
"I'm thinking circa Pangaea."
"Hehe... circa Big Bang."

Now come on, how could I possibly scold them for such comments, when what I really wanted to do was hold them up and celebrate their budding genius? Once again, I may not be the best model of authority. Good thing school's out. Now I can stop pretending to be an adult.