Teachers are not to blame for educational lapses when kids are put to work

Stewart, age 12, with Jodi Foster in The Panic Room (2002)

Twilight actress and former child star Kirsten Stewart spoke out this week about her childhood education. Stewart, who has been acting working since she was eight years old, was in regular school until the seventh grade, when it became too difficult to make it mesh with her career: "My teachers became a problem," Stewart said. "They didn't want to do the extra work or put packages together so I could keep up while away. They failed me. My teachers failed me. Not one, but all of them."

Stewart, now 21, has every right to feel like she missed out on a lot not being in regular school, because she did. But it wasn't her teachers' faults. In fact, they were doing the right thing by not accommodating her.

It does not serve a working child's best interest to constantly give them special treatment. Working or not, kids need to learn that in the real working world, there likely won't be any special treatment either. Projects need to be done, phone calls need to be made, and meetings need to be attended whether one is a star, or has a second job, or is very busy at home. Giving a child the impression the world will bend around their needs does them a disservice. If a child really wants to work, home schooling them may be the only option and is a sacrifice they may have to make and live with.

Stewart (in a Twilight hunk sandwich), 2011

Moreover, singling a child out as special can wreck havoc on a child's social life. Mady Gosselin admitted to cameras that some children at school are mean to her about the show (although fortunately, most are nice, according to her). Being just one of the crowd fosters healthy relationships among children during crucial developmental years when fitting in is of primary importance to a child. Singling a child out as different and special and deserving of special treatment for no good reason (as in, they just happen to work and be famous) can sabotage that child's ability to form healthy friendships with normal kids. In fact, many child stars have reported their closest friends are adults they've met on sets, set teachers, and other actors. Age-appropriate friendships can become very difficult to maintain the more immersed a child becomes in that world, and treating child actors differently only makes it worse.
 
Finally, it's not fair to the educational needs of the other children in the class and at the entire school for their teachers to be spending so much time trying to accommodate a working child who is being pulled out of school. Kristen Stewart didn't suggest she had a learning disability or other special needs that would require extra attention. Her special needs that required extra attention were the result of a choice to work as a child. She could have chosen to wait to work until she finished school, or her parents could have made the choice for her and made her wait. Teachers, whose time is already stretched thin, need to be spending extra time with students who have real special needs, such as learning disabilities or illness.

Stewart is yet another living breathing example of the negative consequences of children working. It's too bad she missed out on regular school, but it was through no fault of anyone but her and her parents' choices.

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/teachers-forced-kristen-stewart-out-of-school-20111007-1ld0p.html#ixzz1acTw91PT