Introduction – Quick acknowledgement of those participating in Ramadan.
Before I go into this topic, I would like to shout out to all Muslims currently participating in Ramadan. Although I am not a Muslim, I love the concept of fasting and actively participating in them. There are many benefits that I will share on this platform one day. This week, I have been on a raw vegan diet as I needed some time away from cooked and processed food. When I am on raw foods, my brain typically feels at its best; however, I am sure there are those claiming the “Placebo effect”. Anyway, enough rambling. I am glad you are reading this because I am concerned about your child, niece, nephew, students, or the young people in your community. Let me explain, I was in an ICT class, and one of my top students was completing a practical assessment on the computer. She had forgotten one function and kept asking me if she was correct. I could not give them any assurances because we were in an assessment. The look on her face was genuine concern, and I went back over to reassure her of how good she was and not to worry about not knowing. This got me thinking about what I am experiencing and hearing from others around young people.

Concerns about young people
It may have been on the Chris Williamson or Joe Rogan podcast where I heard a guest speak on their friend’s concerns about young interns in their labs. The story goes along the lines of her lab opening its doors to interns yearly but only to most academic students. It provides them with experience in the lab. The guest said that his friend has become more concerned about the psychological state of her interns as they seem to be more scared of taking risks or going against the grain of thought, which is the antithesis of science. As a teacher, I am finding the same thing. Reassurance is at extreme levels, affecting all students with varying levels of academic attainment. I am here to share my thoughts on this phenomenon and what we can do to help young people from a teacher’s perspective.

Culture of error
I want to introduce to you the culture of error. In teaching, there is a thought of creating a culture of error in the classroom. It provides students with a safe space to solve problems where they will inevitably make mistakes. Within those mistakes, they can attempt again to make that final destination, which is usually a correct answer. This is a crucial practice, particularly when entering a room full of students who dislike looking like fools in front of their peers. This is one of my most important areas of teaching. When you provide a harmonious room in which students are comfortable, they can thrive; however, no matter what we do in the classroom, we, as teachers, have some huge battles to face when trying to change a student’s mindset. Some I will discuss below.

Social Media – Our most significant challenge!
Social Media is the biggest challenge we face today. Most of the time, people will put their best version out on Social Media. Usually, they will put pictures up of when they are at a luxury place or one with just great visuals for a photo or video. They post their gains in life. Also, young people often watch people they are inspired by, but their growing brains ignore the processes these successful individuals may have had to go through, to which their only focus is the outcome. A combination of each can have real damage to the self-esteem of young people. They feel their life has zero value or they are not worthy of all the riches they see. Some believe some of the rags-to-riches stories they consume online are unreachable. It makes them question their whole life, which then creeps into their self-esteem, leading to a lack of confidence. Again, the beginning of confidence starts from within. It is the ability to say to self, “I can do something,” without letting thought distractions impact the action. Many of our young people are too outcome-oriented, which impacts building processes in their lives that can help them reach their goals.

Another considerable factor is the home they are being brought up in. I was at a parent’s evening, and I wouldn’t say I like these evenings (not because it goes into my evening time) but because I get a snapshot of the relational dynamic between child and parent. Yesterday, at this parent’s evening, a parent told me they believe their child to be overconfident. I responded, “I do believe she demonstrates confidence; however, I am unsure if she is overconfident. Plus, I’d rather have a student who is overconfident than underconfident. Considering how so many young people struggle with themselves, I think this is a small issue that can be honed.” The parent did not appreciate those words; however, I could not control their feelings. This leads me to believe that many young people suffer from a lack of confidence due to their parents. I remember listening to somebody recently, and what they said stuck with me. They asserted that a child’s early voice in their mind is their parent’s voice. Therefore, whatever is constantly told to them will be in their child’s voice when they are going through their early stages of life. I suggest that sometimes their parent’s voice never leaves them, causing many problems at school. You hear so many successful people talk about their upbringing. The typical story of a dad (usually) being so strict and having the highest expectations and drilling this type of behaviour into their children. This benefits some young people, but for many, it leaves a psychological scar and, in some instances, where they never recover.
Solutions to the identified problems – Positive Language
We must be mindful of the language around our young people. I am not talking about over-affirming them with positive words and, instead, training us to remain positive in natural conversations. It can be not easy, hence why I said train. We will need to train ourselves for many of us, including me. I will need to ensure what I say in front of my children and students. This can go a long way. Being a mentor in the past has fueled my confidence that powerful, positive words can make a huge difference. I have plenty of students who have said my words, which is why they stayed on the course or even had the confidence to do well in exams. We need to hold compassion for ourselves because this will be a rough ride where we will make many mistakes. It will be worth it when we have confident young people.

Discussing Social Media Content with young people
There is some absolute garbage out there that is ruining the minds of our young people. We must know what is out there as it is in our best interests. When I can, I will discuss the type of content they watch with my students. I am horrified by some content, whilst I am pleasantly surprised by others. This is important because long-form podcasts are beginning to expand to small podcast platforms. Before, only the vast platforms would have three hours of content. Now, more and more folks are doing this. We all need to be mindful of it because some of the narratives being pushed can only be described as destruction. I know that young people do not always want to talk and share their thoughts and feelings; however, we must try to get into their lives. Discuss specific narratives being pushed and ask if they believe the narrative to be true. Those types of open dialogue conversations will again help them filter out nonsense. I asked them how it makes them feel when they watch specific content. Watching podcasts of successful people, I am always inspired to follow my dreams, hence this blog post. Some young people do not necessarily take it the same way as me. We need to start speaking to our young people.

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