I have written in these posts about the younger aspects of childhood and the pressure that our society places on hurrying up to grow up. Today I am going to write a little about our older kids---teen agers. This is a group who really face a lot of conflicting messages from society. On the one hand we want them to mature and be smarter, brighter, more accomplished, and more informed than their counterparts of earlier generations but on the other hand we want them to remain children, keep their innocence and put off adulthood.
One of the growing trends in education for high schoolers is dual enrollment in high school and college. This can be done through attending a couple of college classes during one's Junior or Senior year or enrolling in an alternative high school which is housed on a college campus and consists of college coursework.
Both of my daughters attended college and high school simultaneously at age 16. There were advantages to this as well as disadvantages. In the spirit of this blog, I will point out the disadvantages which center around the issue of "hurry up to grow up".
Combining high school and college deprived my daughters of the full experience of traditional high school activities such as membership in clubs ,activities, and events. Although their Academy offered many social experiences including a Jr./Sr. Prom, it was decidedly different than the traditional affairs. Another area of concern in rushing to finish their education was that time to decide what they really wanted to do in life was shortened, in that they were alreay Juniors in college when friends their age were Freshmen. So the pressure to declare a major put many of these accelerated students at a disadvantage because they really weren't ready to make that choice. Of course, some students seem to have problems with this regardless of their age or experience!
Overall though my daughers are happy to have had their unique experience of simultaneously attending high school and college and would not choose to do it differently. This was a decision they made individually and there were many positive benefits from the experience. I do feel it was appropriate for them developmentaly but still think they were somewhat rushed into the thinking of the day that sooner is better than later and hurrying up is a sound educational practice.
Donna
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Hi auxano,
I can understand what you are saying about teenagers growing up to fast. However, we are living in a fast pace society and I feel advertisements and the media encourages these expereinces. I was impressed at the end of you blog where you stated that your daughters were very happy and satisfied with the decisions they made. I feel the decision to take college and high school courses must be a individual decision for each student made with the assistance of a parent. Parents must be invovled in the educational decisions that students make at every level. I feel this is the only way that students will continue to compete in a face paced society. Some will mature and reach their goals much quicker than others. However, it is important that they are doing something in life. I see to many young adults in my area with nothing to do and no direction in life. Most of the time it is lack of parental invovlement and some of these students have loss their parents through the ills of the streets. However, those who we can assist we must for it is important for students to learn they should always cease the opportunities given unto them to learn. They must also beocme productive citizens in life. I enjoyed the points you made about teenagers and the messages we send to them in society. I work with teenagers in the community and at my church on a daily bais and I realize they have alot to consider if life. Yes, they need alot of guidance to reach their goals!!!
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