The world we live in is messy.
Kids don’t necessarily have the same freedom to screw up that we once did, with the default mode of sharing that is innate in so many. When I ask educators if they ever drank too much when they were in university or high school, the majority of hands always raise.
When I asked them how many posted it online, zero hands are raised.
We were so much smarter and more mature than the youth of today? Not even close. The Internet and the ease of sharing that happens today, did not exist. Some of the same mistakes so many youth make today, we would have probably done the same if the opportunities were there.
Talking to students often, many of them talk about how unfair it is for them that are held to a much higher standard in many ways than we were as kids. I agree, but I also remind them that they have opportunities and access to people that I could have not imagined when I was young. I saw this amazing video of Kevin Durant, one of the best basketball players in the world, connecting with people on Twitter and playing flag football.
I have said often, access to all of the information in the world is pretty amazing, but what is more important, is that we have access to one another.
To be honest though, there are sometimes that I feel uncomfortable with the world that we live in now. You hear a lot of stories of things happening online, such as how Facebook is cited in so many divorce cases, and I sometimes wonder if we are better off now than we were before. Technology can accelerate everything, both good and bad. Sometimes the bad can be overwhelming. I get that.
What I do know is that no matter how overwhelming it can become, it is important that schools talk about this with our students and become a part of the conversation. To ignore it is a disservice to our students.
The world, our world, is really messy and rather complicated. Although there are so many similarities to kids now compared to when I grow up, there are a lot of differences as well. Love it or hate, we can’t ignore the world we live in.
