What Every Teen Should Know
Standardized testing be damned. In Utopia, before receiving that diploma every high school student will pass a final exam on things that really matter.
Truly educated teens would know how to grow food and flowers, cook nutritious meals, and practice personal spirituality. They would know self-defense and basic first aid like CPR. They could read a map, change a tire, jump a battery and burp a baby.
An educated teen should be able to run a computer, type by touch, balance a checkbook and defer gratification. An educated teen knows that sex isn’t everything, that nicotine is the gateway drug, and that drinking till you puke is not a good idea.
An educated teen knows that public education is not a social service; it is a government agency more like the army than the YMCA, more about testing and passing than learning and growing. The wise ones take from it what they can and seek knowledge pertinent to them in the wider world of books in libraries and yes, the world wide web.
Teens truly prepared for life have learned that bowing to peer pressure makes you weak, and that worrying about being accepted by others is really kind of creepy. They know that a peer is an equal, often in ignorance, so they listen to the ones who know what they’re talking about. And they take responsibility for setting straight a friend about to go off the tracks of sex, drugs and rock and roll.
Educated teens know that fashion statements are shallow; style statements are deep. They know the difference, and they know that MTV and rock stars do not know the difference.
Although the test has not yet been written, certifiably educated teens know how to act. Like an actor, they can pretend they’re glad to see you when they’re not. They can act cooperative when they feel competitive. They can fake being polite when feeling justifiably contemptuous. They know that this is not being hypocritical; it is practicing social survival skills for the real world.
Truly educated teens would know how to grow food and flowers, cook nutritious meals, and practice personal spirituality. They would know self-defense and basic first aid like CPR. They could read a map, change a tire, jump a battery and burp a baby.
An educated teen should be able to run a computer, type by touch, balance a checkbook and defer gratification. An educated teen knows that sex isn’t everything, that nicotine is the gateway drug, and that drinking till you puke is not a good idea.
An educated teen knows that public education is not a social service; it is a government agency more like the army than the YMCA, more about testing and passing than learning and growing. The wise ones take from it what they can and seek knowledge pertinent to them in the wider world of books in libraries and yes, the world wide web.
Teens truly prepared for life have learned that bowing to peer pressure makes you weak, and that worrying about being accepted by others is really kind of creepy. They know that a peer is an equal, often in ignorance, so they listen to the ones who know what they’re talking about. And they take responsibility for setting straight a friend about to go off the tracks of sex, drugs and rock and roll.
Educated teens know that fashion statements are shallow; style statements are deep. They know the difference, and they know that MTV and rock stars do not know the difference.
Although the test has not yet been written, certifiably educated teens know how to act. Like an actor, they can pretend they’re glad to see you when they’re not. They can act cooperative when they feel competitive. They can fake being polite when feeling justifiably contemptuous. They know that this is not being hypocritical; it is practicing social survival skills for the real world.
posted by John Marsh at 3:17 PM
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