Someone shared an article about how teenagers brains need a later start to the day, and it was topical for us because an East Anglian school has actually changed the times of teaching to afternoons and early evenings, so that the teenagers can benefit from the later start to be fully engaged in the teaching. Research has proved better outcomes for this.
(image from ikea.com)
I shared this post, jokingly adding the tagline, "this must be why people have trouble getting to the 9 am lectures, EFG" and Oh, my word, what a debate that unleashed. The one or two of you who are friends on Facebook may have seen it!
The gist of the comments was that teenagers today have no backbone, no stamina, no oomph, and what would have happened if soldiers in the Somme trenches had said that they would wait until midday to fight?! Another "friend" commented that he had been up at 6 am for work for 35 years and what is the world coming to?
There's a lack of appreciation for our young people, a terribly narrow minded view of our teenage population and a tendency to have a very broad brush approach when considering the average teenager. It's shameful, really, that some people are so stuck in the past that they have no ability to look to the future.
My teenagers, all four of them, work hard here and in Aberdeen. The EFG has had a full day today of concentrating hard and working in the labs; the YFG has had a long day at school, helping with an open evening after school so that I picked her up at 8 pm, and then she sat down and re-wrote an essay that had been returned to her today with a low mark, so she has done it again tonight: the violinist often practises for between 3 and 6 hours a day, depending on whether it is a school day, and is up at 6 most days, including Saturdays, for a full day of work of one kind or another. The Danish girl has a terrible toothache today with a wisdom tooth coming through and could hardly speak this morning, so I offered her the opportunity to stay at home, but she was determined to go to school as she had an essay due. She went, but she's struggling now.
We live in a different world today, and whilst some occupations do demand a standard approach to the workday, we have more and more people working shifts in all sorts of jobs, and we have more flexibility in the workplace. We are also more appreciative of creativity, and an increasing number of self-employed people, who are able to set their own hours. If you are planning to teach for a career, you need to understand that you are likely to start work at 7.30 am to be well prepared for when the children arrive an hour later, but if you are a writer, for example, you may well choose to write late into the night when the inspiration strikes.
Thank goodness for variety! Thank goodness for teenagers who inspire and challenge us to move with the times - I love mine.....
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2 comments:
If it works and doesn't get taken advantage of by a few, good is what I say. Our DS was called, then a few minutes later his bedding was pulled right down He usually got up within 15 minutes of being called at 7:30am.
I have always hated getting up early and when a teenager wished that school started later. It has nothing to do with being lazy, it's different body rhythms.
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