Working with so many teenagers, I am constantly struck by their intelligence and maturity. The sophisticated discussions about society and relationships blow me away. For years I said to myself that I was SO much less intelligent and mature when I was a teenager. Sometimes now I wonder if I am still less intelligent and mature than many of the young people I work with!
I think most people would agree that young people today are very different than they were 10 years ago, much less 20 years, or 40 years ago. In that context it is absolutely shocking that our school system has not changed in recognition of this huge shift.
As adults we are often shocked that primary school children who are 11 or 12 are into vaping, drugs, sexualized behaviours, etc. Maybe what we should be shocked about is that they are still in primary school. Our world is so different, and our school system is unchanged.
Aside from us being shocked when 11 year olds act like 16 year olds did a generation ago, it becomes incredibly ludicrous when we look at high school. I talk with young people all the time who are more sophisticated and “grown up” in their thinking than many adults, and then they go to school and are interacted with like they are little children.
I worked with a young man around 17 years of age who was physically bigger than me, and was making a small fortune doing online investing. Then he’d go to school and have to ask to go to the toilet, or be chastised for “back chatting”.
Perhaps we need to acknowledge that 11-12 year olds are teenagers and that 16-17 year olds are functionally adults. It’s at least worth beginning a discussion of shortening the number of years that children are in school, so that even in a traditional model 11-12 year olds would be in high school and 16 year olds would have completed school and be ready to assume the adult roles they are VERY capable of assuming.
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