Students can’t see

I’ve been a teacher for the last thirty years and I am just amazed at how bad the eyesight of all the students is getting. All my students are complaining about constant headaches, needing to squint to see, having sore eyes and blurry vision. Now, this might make me sound like an old woman, which I am, but I genuinely believe it’s all the screens. It’s almost a struggle to teach a class as everyone is always on their phones. Then to make them worse, we then plonk them down in front of more screens for them to do their work. Whatever happened to a good old pen and paper? The way we used to do it. Now, there is just no proper eye care. Brighton is an area with lots of schools and I speak to all my teacher friends and they all say they experience the same issue at their schools. Students are encouraged to spend basically a whole day sitting at a computer screen. Then lunch time comes around, you’d think they’d be away from screens then, but nope! They’re all sitting on their phones going on social media or filming those strange viral videos. When does it end!

No doubt they then all go home to watch TV or play games. I should get a cut from the optometrist for all the kids eye test referrals they’ll no doubt be getting. I’ve noticed many parents seem to get defensive when I say their child needs an eye test, as if it’s an insult. Maybe they feel it’s insulting to their DNA? I really don’t get what the issue is, would they rather I keep my mouth quiet and not tell them that their child is struggling due to their eyes? I absolutely hate watching children struggle. Life is hard enough as it is and no one needs it harder. If glasses can make your life that little bit easier then so be it.