Tech
As an educator of today’s teenagers, I have learned that if we don’t meet the teens where they are we will not connect with them. We can place high expectations on our teens, but first we have to understand where our teens are in life. The teens of this generation are dealing with issues that were not even created in our generation. Yes, we dealt with bullying, but we could go home or unplug the phone. There may be rumors, but rarely were there pictures. Now, the teens have to deal with cyber bullying. Bullies have no problem posting pictures, lies, and rumors all over social media, it only takes a click and it can be spread across the world. The victims have no where to hide. Everything a teen posts on their social media will come back to haunt them. Corporations do a social media investigation before hiring, College scholarships can be revoked for stupid choices that teens may have made before in private that no one knew about, now everyone knows.
In general LGBT community is more accepted. However, the government is attempting to make immigrants and refugees into villains. The president himself has been accused of sexual abuse and been caught on tape clearly degrading and objectifying women. Women who have spoken up about abuse have been shut down. Our leaders are setting a horrible example of inequality. This is where the teens are, not in the best place. Of course, they will doubt, question, and think different than we do. Their experiences have been completely different than ours. We need to give them the space, the ability to trust, and the respect they deserve. We need to meet our teens where they are, start to understand, and then form a community with them.
