Mari-Jane Williams: Article Analysis

For those of us that are parents, we know that raising a child to adulthood is not an easy task but one which we do lovingly (hopefully) and responsibly. I’ll go out on a limb to say here that everyone agrees that the teenage years are the most challenging. The general consensus is that teenagers are unruly, aggressive, careless, spoiled and dependent on technology. On the other hand, I believe along with a small group of other parents that teenagers are also brilliant and in the process of becoming and reaching their potential and that they deserve much more respect than what they are given.

Grown-ups always say “teen years are your best years.” Yet the mentality these days is to grow up too fast. Most kids going on to teens can’t wait to have a car, and can’t wait to go out every weekend with that girl they like. These kids go on to having jobs and little do they know that they are going to start missing out on all the fun things their friends are doing like going to that movie everyone has been waiting for at midnight. This is where students start to get tired and say “well I already have a job, I don’t need to go to school.” And that’s when they drop

Another point Kirn seems to overlook is the premise that many high schools, especially in Canada, offer introductory courses to university level material; such as courses in law, psychology, calculus, and even some higher level sciences. For many students taking these courses can give them insight as to what exactly they are in for in the coming years of their post-secondary life. For example a student could leave grade 11 physics thinking that they love the material and have enough of a grip on the math that they might be able to pursue a career down that path. However, upon taking calculus and a higher level physics course coupled they suddenly realize that they in fact hate math and

In “Should the Obama Generation Drop Out?” Charles Murray believes that “a large majority of young people do not have the intellectual ability to do genuine college-level work” (95). Although this is true, not every career field requires the same level of coursework and may require different levels of intellectual ability. Also, academic intelligence should not be viewed as the only type of intelligence out there, and people with other gifts and talents should definitely be acknowledged and respected as well. Of course, most well-paying jobs require more than a high school education “…but it need not mean four years on a campus” (Murray 95). For instance, people who are aspiring to become a

Numerous teens go off to college not knowing basic life skills that become increasingly helpful when you're off on your own. Figuring things out on your own isn’t always an awful thing, but if you had someone to teach you about life and how to manage your way through it, it would be so helpful. One not so great thing about figuring information out on your own is that you could end up making some costly mistakes. One of the best times to learn life skills such as managing money, cooking, raising a child, first aid, relationship and communication skills, and how to get a job is right before a teen goes off to college. There is a great deal of teens who go off to college and will be living on their own for the first time, if we taught life skill type classes in high school they would be more prepared to go off on their own.

creators of the Salem Witch Trials (L. Annika). The girls were believed to have been doing black

After high school students are faced with the decision to continue pursuing a more advanced education or going into the workforce as society would label it “uneducated”. Although there are more deciding factors than simply

As a Resident Advisor of freshmen for UNE and an EMT-Basic, I have experienced many different situations that involve adolescent behaviors first hand. In an article written by Thomas S. Weisner, he points out the idea of Ecocultural theory where a “child’s engagement in more sustainable routines and activities is good for children, and produces well-being” (279). This idea that it is the being’s responsibility to manage their life after receiving guidance from their daily influences based on cultural pathways allows me to be who I am now. As I continue my education in the University of New England, I am able to observe the many cognitive processes (psychodynamic, social inference, etc…) with the residents on my floor. Many situations can impact what students choose to pursue in the future and it is powerful when you realize that you can influence that choice. With this information, I understand that anything can impact human development. The most important influence is the first choice that their caregiver has.

Imagine this: A modern student, pushed on by her parents, teachers, and guidance counselors, works her way through the entire available set of math, science, engineering, and technology courses her high school and subsequent college have to offer. She completes only the bare minimum of arts classes to graduate: four years of english, two years of foreign language, a year of fine arts, the required government and economics classes. She doesn’t care too much about them. She’s going to be a civil engineer. Why would she need all these extra skills when her career is all about math and science?

Aaron , not graduating high school too long ago talks about how it's important for people to learn what they're interested and skills that they will actually need and use, unlike what a lot of courses and teachers teach students on.

In order to be successful in life, many young adults feel as if they need to go to school and complete

There is one thing for certain in this world, everyone wants to accomplish something in life and we want to recognize our full potential. In order to do this we must have some skills, and in this case it’s life skills. Life skills are a range of characteristics we

Learning mathematics, history, science, and English are of course necessary, but the system also fails to teach us the fundamentals it takes to become a functioning adult. In

Therefore, schools should teach life skills to students as its one of the way students can handle relationship challenges. Furthermore, life skills involve interaction, and hence utilizes the problem-solving system for students to manage their problems. This makes

Why aren’t life skills taught in school? This leads into what the positive and negative effects of teaching these skills in the classroom are. Whether they are social, emotional, or physical effects. The type of people who are affected are high school students who are either being taught or not and if they want to gain knowledge of these skills. Also, sometimes the teachers who are using their time to incorporate these skills in the classroom as well as whats required. This can be an issue all over the world in high schools and can carry on past then. In Assessment of certain life skills among high school adolescents of Jaipur district, Jain and Goyal talk about the educational and social issues involved. Which include students not being able to reach their full potential due to the lack of proper guidance and motivation. In Life skill classes shouldn't replace academic subjects, the author talks about schools only having so much time to educate students and have to decide whether or not they are going to include life skills. Many believe that careers are based off of the core subjects and preparing students for jobs is more important. Also, that these core subjects are already a jumping point for learning life skills. What is causing controversies is the question of whether students should learn these skill in or out of the classroom.