Teaching Teens in My 20s

That was the first time I realized what the generation gap actually is.

My school life was quite simple. The small circle of friends, fixed pocket money, exams, discussion on the good horror show that used to air once a week, typical games in lunch breaks, and lots and lots of laughter. This is what I expected when I took on a teaching job right after my graduation.

On my first day in the classroom, all I could see were silent and shy students, listening to me carefully with their eyes set on my face, passing a friendly grin towards me every now and then, and then picking up their gaze back where they had left it off. I got nervous. I had to be. It wasn’t that long ago when I was on the other side of the classroom, sitting with my fellow students, maybe staring at my teacher the same way.

Before jumping into the job, I did my research; read a lot of articles, watched videos, learned some new teaching strategies, all because I wanted my naivety to stow away in front of all those experienced maestros. Obviously, professions like this come with lots and lots of challenges; a competitive environment, keeping up with tasks, being the good one in your boss’ eyes, trying to excel at everything, etc. I was confronted with a bunch of challenges too, transitioning from one age group to the other, seeking comfort in this digitally globalized world, trying to put their curiosity at rest, and at the same time working their way through lives. I knew that students go through troubled times during their teen ages, and we, being teachers, have the moral responsibilities in order to deal with the farrago of their typical teen-age frenzy behavior and mood.

I happened to be a friendly teacher; stern but friendly. But my friendliness came directly in contact with my inability to manage the classroom because I wasn’t taken that much seriously they way other teachers were. It all started with random smiles in the corridors, then greetings, then compliments, and finally the inundation of friend requests on all my social media accounts. So, I had to create a subtle balancing act with my students and had to throw away the “cool teacher” card. It was then when I noticed a number of things, too patent for someone working as a teacher for a comparatively longer period.

This generation was different, which got me into the weird realization of the existing generation gap between me and my students. I was streaked from my role as a student to my role as a teacher within a few months, but the times were changed. Today

Logic is everything

Few days into that and I realized that students today work with an impulse. They are curious. They want answers supported by logic and only logic. If the answer doesn’t fit in that criteria, they would keep on asking and would crave for satisfaction. They are not afraid of speaking their minds out, which does seem pretty straight forward at first, but then sometimes you have to intervene between them and their strong urge to act on an impulse.

You have to meet Netflix-inspired teenagers’ standards

Overgrown eyebrows and mustache, typical teenage beauty, has been replaced with the beaming results of YouTube makeup tutorials. This is actually followed to keep up with the Netflix ideals of teenagers. How often do we see a teenager with a perfect chiseled jawline and aesthetic muscles? Almost never. Because they never existed. Only having met these beauty standards, you’ll be falling into the criteria of a beautiful person, otherwise, you become the victim of mockery.

I remember calling each other pretty when, in school, we used to show up in colored clothes on a funfair without being judged on our simple use of chapstick as a lipstick.

Being mean is the new cool

When did being rude and mean start defining the power status? There was a time when rude children were shown the door and were equally scolded by their parents as well. We have created a society today where the person showing the impudent behavior grabs the macho status and hailed as a hero. This particular behavior emanates when the mind follows specific patterns supporting this conduct.

I, unfortunately, had an experience of watching few roasting/funny videos on YouTube, which, according to me, are the fount of such conduct in students today. Those videos, if taken in good humor, are completely harmless, but the strong urge to pass on the mockery to the fellows, can have some serious damaging upshots. What about the virtues like kindness, respect, and sensitivity? When the kind student is submissive, it allows the mean one to draw power by mistreating his fellows. Such promotion of typical Blair Waldorf inspired behavior has led to the bullying issue in nearly every school in the world.

Materialism is an identity crisis

Scrolling pictures on social media and seeing people buying stuff, traveling in business class, going on a road trip in their new car, taking selfies with their new phones, meant to incite envy. Unknowingly we get into this unhealthy competition and materialism gets nurtured within our minds. We somehow lose ourselves. We become that person in the picture with a closet full of designer shoes.

Being enthralled by Louis Vuitton’s new collection and flaunting your Prada bag is not the problem here. In a group of ten students, only 5 or 6 students would have access to this luxury. The rest are caught up in the throes of an identity crisis. They want to emulate that lifestyle, hence disturbing their parents, who are already caught up in these exacerbated economic conditions today.

The whole idea of motivation is changed

There was a time when giving the reward to the student was considered as a token of appreciation and means of motivation. I pondered over this many times during my time as a teacher when I used to see students befriending the students of equal ability. They refused to sit in mixed ability groups and preferred sitting with their friends. Today motivation is intensified by creating the fear of losing the reward. Students are afraid of being called underachiever, which is a good thing if it falls into the circle of healthy competition. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. Motivation is required by every student which is magnified by constant appreciation.

Where I saw these things, I also saw this generation radiating confidence. They know what they want, and what’s best for them.

I saw them having their way around technology better than anyone of us.

I saw them fighting for their rights and for others’ rights and being vocal about their demands.

I saw them candid and natural in their responses and their ideas of celebrating life.

I saw them dreaming big and aiming for IVY leagues.

I saw them debating on political issues, putting out their views unflinchingly.

I saw them taking initiatives in saving their country; talking about environmental problems, which was the least of the concerns of our generation.

I know that things won’t be like this forever. Change is permanent and we all will have to go with it. I cherish each and every second I spend with my students. I get to see through them how much the world has changed. This resulted in the sense of realization that generation gap is not just the difference of age, but the difference in opinions, beliefs, values, and every single element that constitutes the person as a whole. All those struggling with it, just focus on the similarities, embrace each other’s views, and keep that communication going.