Are Kids Too Coddled By Frank Bruni Summary

In recent years, ideas on how children should be raised have shifted within society. In his essay “Are Kids Too Coddled?” author Frank Bruni argues that parents have become overprotective, reducing children’s exposure to difficulties and, in turn, reducing the children’s preparedness for adult life. He supports a more rigorous education, and in particular the introduction of the Common Core, a federal curriculum that is more difficult than many local school programs. Bruni is correct in that children should be exposed to their raw environment so that they can learn and develop as mature, confident, and competitive individuals. While coddling may make childhood easier, it is only a temporary buffer that cannot last into adulthood. Classically, education has been based on memorization, whether this refers to repeating times-tables or vocabulary definitions over and over again. With the introduction of the Common Core, a larger emphasis has been placed on more complex thought, a point Bruni bolsters. He states “that tougher instruction [should] not be rejected simply because it makes children feel …show more content…
Within the modern, “bubble-wrapped” society, children have inflated self-confidence. Because of this, Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, says, “[students] don’t expect to spend much time studying, but they confidently expect good grades and marketable degrees” (Bruni). Adversaries of the Common Core argue that the harder curriculum damages self-esteem, but a realistic knowledge of one’s abilities, even if that is somewhat mediocre, is better than an inaccurate, narcissistic view that could damage one’s ability to succeed. Furthermore, by making success only achievable through hard work, students will develop a healthy, appropriately high self-esteem by looking back at the work that they have accomplished. By challenging youth, an inflated overconfidence is replaced by a healthy