The Youth of Today: Do we expect too much?
Christos Orthodoxou
Bringing employers together through roundtables and building innovation recruitment strategies
I thought I’d start the year with what could be quite a topical article; one that could spark a debate amongst my network; but ultimately one that I think raises important points and feeds into some of the work that we are doing, and in some cases, our daily lives.
I’ll talk more about where the idea for this article came from and how relevant it is to the work that I am currently doing as I wrap it up towards the end. But, as I thought about it, I started to think of more and more examples of the expectations we have on our youth, and have explored them in more detail below:
Live by British Values
‘British values’ is a term that has been at the forefront of the classroom, governing boards and Ofsted’s guidelines since the DfE announced it in a press release in November 2014. But what are British Values? According to Ofsted, the ‘fundamental British values’ are: democracy; the rule of law; individual liberty; and mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith. Trickling down from lawmakers, British values are being taught into classrooms all across the country.
Schools are not only expected to teach students British values, but students are expected to live by them - both in, and out of school. I completely agree with the implementation of such values - and actually by removing the word ‘British’, they feel slightly less rigorous. These values teach tolerance of different cultural traditions and respect of others, accepting responsibility for their behavior, showing initiative, and development of self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence - surely, these are just the values that we, as society, teach our children from the outset?
Parental Pressures
I then spoke to a friend - a primary school teacher - hoping to get some insight into the above topic. The conversation inevitably evolved. Her thoughts were that one of the main pressures students - of any age - face, is that from their parents. ‘Kids can’t just be kids’, she says. The expectations of parents can be too high - with extra tutors after school (in my day, we came home and played outside!), wanting to know how they compare to other members of the class and doing their kids homework for them!
I think this is the harsh reality of competition in classrooms - parents do not want their child falling behind. Perhaps then, we do expect too much of our children, but by doing this are we adding pressures that cloud what makes childhood so wonderful?
Have the right image on Social Media
Social media is everywhere now, and even if our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat (and whatever other accounts you may have!) are for our own personal use, we’re still expected to behave as our parents, teachers, and society expects us to.
I often look back at my own social media accounts of the past (MySpace!) and cringe. I cringe at the sort of things that I used to post, thank god that no one of great importance saw them and they could be deleted from public view - when I realised that it was how the world would view me, if they only Googled my name.
Ten years ago, you were allowed to make mistakes online. That’s not the case anymore. It’s far too easy for the public to search for a young person online and see what they have been saying, doing or affiliating with, and that can affect futures.
I think this is a good expectation to place on young people as they need to understand the impacts of negative social media presence, however, I think it’s important for mistakes to be made - as we were allowed to do!
Career
The idea for this article came about when I was talking to a friend about the work that I do, and telling him that the Class Careers service is available to all students, but proves most popular with Year 9 and above. ‘Year 9!’, he exclaimed, shocked that students would be making decisions about their careers and futures at such an early age, ‘I barely knew what I wanted to do, even in my final year of university!’ Personally, I don’t think Year 9 (age 13/14) is too young to be discussing options and beginning to follow the path towards our future career - after all, it is the year that subject choices are made in most schools (some, as early as Year 7 or 8!).
Choosing ‘options’ is an interesting time of our lives. When I was 13, it baffled me that the choices I took then could impact what I did as a future career. Should I choose French or German? Why can’t I take History and Geography together? Do I have to take Biology and Physics if I want to be a Doctor? Do I have to take English Literature and English Language if I want to be a Journalist? Why must I take a humanities subject if I want to be a builder?
And the key question: How do I know what subjects I should take, when I don’t know what I want to be?
Those were the type of questions racing through my head when I was just 13. Thirteen years later, and I’m fairly sure that the questions racing through the heads of current year 9s are fairly similar. (Ironically, as an entrepreneur, it made absolutely no difference in the end - I still gained a place at the university of my choice and have gone on to set up my own successful company.)
Not every student knows what they want to do, and I think for me, that’s the key point here: We must be open with our students, informing them of the wide variety of options available to them following compulsory education. Only then will they be able to make informed decisions about their future - and taking the path that is right for them.
Bringing it all together
To round up - yes, I do think we place plenty of expectations on our children and young people - however, I don’t think they are unwarranted, or unnecessary expectations. We live in a world that is constantly changing and children must learn how to adapt at an early age. Making mistakes is a big part of this process - students will make mistakes in the classroom, at home, on social media and in their career - but will learn from it, as the rest of us have. It is our responsibility to support them through their mistakes, keep them informed of opportunities available to them.
I think this is an interesting topic, and one that could spark a conversation between members of my network. As ever, please do share your thoughts and opinions on the question ‘Do we expect too much of our youth?’ in the comment box below - I’d be delighted to hear them.
About Me
As the Founder of Class Careers - an organisation that serves to bridge the disconnect between employers and school classrooms through live online workshops - I feel strongly about supporting young people into making the right decisions for them.
You can find out more about Class Careers here: www.classcareers.co.uk
Micro entrepreneur at Les Deux Chevaux (Self-employed)
8 年Hi Christos, I agree with all you say about being open with young people to and allow them to explore many options as part of their career development. I am also pleased to see you raise the issue of expectations of young people in this rapidly changing world we live in. I do think we - employers, teachers and parents, can at times, expect too much from young people and children and forget we all make mistakes along the way. In my line of work, Careers Education and employer engagement with schools, I often hear from employers of young people not being prepared enough for the world of work and yet I sometimes think some employers may have forgotten what is was to have been a young teenager taking the first steps beyond full time education. A recent employer who was wanting to recruit an apprentice IT support assistant complained the candidates did not have enough IT networking experience, despite wanting to recruit a 16-17 year old from school/college. However I am disappointed with the current education and government system in England as there is no consistent and standard approach in state maintained schools to help resolve this. How do you think educators should support young people?
Education and employability consultant, author, trainer and mentor
8 年Hi Christos, I absolutely endorse your organisation's mission to bridge the disconnect between employers and classrooms, and in fact have devoted much of my life-career to doing the same thing. I have come at it from a slightly different perspective though - I've demonstrated and enabled the connections between the attributes and skills needed for both learning and work - and indeed for a life-career in general. It's not hard to make these connections as work is increasingly about lifelong learning, and we don't need to make just one career decision now but to manage careers in which we promote our portable skills, interests, attributes, etc. to different employers /opportunity-providers, maybe even in different occupational areas. So the decisions made in Year 9 should be about learners understanding and engaging with opportunities that develop their individual and collective behavioural competencies - i.e. those skills, attributes and attitudes that will make them generically effective and productive in their current learning, and will transfer into future occupational areas - provided they identify and develop their strengths and address their development needs. They can then continue to 'SOAR to success' - to make the connections between Self, Opportunity, Aspirations & Results. SOAR is a pedagogy I've developed and authored as a personalised, developmental process that is entirely congruent with British (and dare I say universal humanistic) values. We are indeed trying to put wise heads on young shoulders, but it is meant to be a pro-active, empowering, enabling journey that encourages the use of failure and feedback as raw material for success and that values each individual as 'hero in the journey through a life-career'.
Organisational Psychologist ? Consultant to Professional Service Firms
8 年There has been a lot of research recently into the neurological development of the adolescent brain, with evidence to show the area that takes longest to develop relates to higher cognitive tasks (important for inhibiting impulsive behaviour); in fact, it is still developing into our mid-20s. This had led the adolescent brain being likened to 'a fast car with bad brakes'. I think this is very important information for anyone thinking about recruiting school leavers (and to a lesser extent graduates). It means they learn quickly but mistakes are almost certainly going to happen along the way.
good article Chris - agree wholeheartedly that kids need to be kids!