As an educator I have been very fortunate to handle hundreds of different students. I did not just teach them but I think I learnt a few things from them as well. While children are nothing short of adorable I think we can all agree that the teenagers can be a handful.
It's not just the parents who have to deal with their mood swings and snarky comments, more often than not teaching teenagers guarantees that the teacher is driven up the wall almost every working day. However what worries me most is how these adolescents are dealt with in our country.
I think it is very important that teachers and parents need to understand the biological reasons why teenagers are the way they are. Over the last 15 years, the work done on neurobiology and brain development is quite staggering and has been a blessing in terms of understanding human behavior. We now know that our brain changes every day and it matures well into our mid twenties.
While brain development does start during childhood, it is during adolescence that it undergoes drastic changes. And the part of the brain that undergoes the most dramatic changes during adolescence is the Pre Frontal Cortex or the PFC.
The Pre Frontal Cortex is bigger in humans than in any other animal. It is the part of brain that determines all of our cognitive functions such as planning, risk taking, learning, thinking of consequences and so on and so forth.
Interestingly this is the part of the brain that develops in the very end and starts developing during adoloscencce.. The unwanted synapses are pruned and the brain tissues are fine tuned during this developmental process.
Adolescence is the period during which teenagers make more impulsive decisions and seek out more independence from their care givers. They are more prone to taking risks and get into scuffles over seemingly small matters. They are neither kids, nor adults.
They are stuck in a limbo where they struggle with their perspective and their own identity. They have difficulty controlling their own impulses.
It is due to the fact that although the back part of their brain is fully developed, the front part is still undergoing development. So when we expect our teenagers to act responsibly and they don't, it is because they are not yet fully equipped to be responsible.
Research has also shown that the Limbic System of the human brain is extremely hypersensitive during adolescence. They are extremely sensitive to anything you say and are very easily excitable. This goes on to show, why a teenager might just explode at the simplest thing their parents or teachers say.
However this is not necessarily a bad thing. A heightened sense of sensitivity means that it is during this time they wish to take on more adventures, generate new ideas and creativity and meet new people.
The synaptic pruning during the development of PFC means that during the adolescence the human brain is more plastic and malleable. It is the ideal time for them to learn not just arithmetic and algebra but also social behavior.
We often think that insulting a teenager and hitting them is the right approach. Trust me when I say that hitting them and humiliating them does more harm than good.
Because their brain is still under development and extremely sensitive to outside stimuli, the teenagers are more prone to fall into depression and anxiety and they often commit suicide.
We need to be more sympathetic towards them and try to understand their perspective. Because teenagers are not developmentally equipped to take into account other people's perspective, we adults need to take on a more responsible role when dealing with the teenagers.
A lot of schools in our country employ zero tolerance policies where the punishments are predetermined, general and mostly without context. Expelling a student or suspending them for incidents as simple as proposing a girl is a common phenomenon in our country.
But do we educators understand the consequences of these actions? Do we understand that by isolating the students we are failing an entire generation every single day?
Due to higher sensitivity the adolescence is the ideal time for students to learn. So when we make a student leave the class room or expel them, we are basically depriving them of their right to learning.
What we need to understand is that isolating these adolescents at such a prime time means that we are reducing their chances of functional connectivity.
This in turn leads to more depression and anxiety and lower academic performance. Instead what we need to do is guide them, make the school a positive learning ground where they can not only connect to their peers but also their mentors.
Over the years I have seen many parents who are frustrated by their child's behavior. They cannot for the life of them figure out why their child got into a fight or jumped off the wall when he knows he isn't supposed to. I repeat. It is because their brain is still under development. They know it's wrong but they cannot rationalize it because their PFC is still a work in progress.
They will take risks for the thrill of it because they are not yet equipped to understand the consequences. In situations like this what parents need to do is connect to their child. They need to make sure that their child is plugged into people and not into technology.
Sadly a student's mental health is not taken into consideration in almost ninety percent of the schools in our country. For the majority of people in Bangladesh, mental health is nothing but a myth that everyone happily ignores.
The state has to make sure that the people are aware of the importance of mental health in our country. The teachers need to be trained so that they are equipped to deal with teenagers in a proper manner.
The parents also need to be aware of how a teenager's mind works so that they can help their child. The state has to ensure that there is proper counseling available for the youth throughout the country because our youth are or future. Their well being is our responsibility.
I know from experience that dealing with teenagers is hard. They are at times rude, snarky, moody, withdrawn and the list goes on and on. But as adults it is our duty to understand and guide them.
They do not know better. The development process makes them extremely sensitive but we should not make fun of it or stigmatize it. Instead let us make use of this heightened sensitivity. Let us encourage them, guide them, support them and give them love so that our children are not lost.
The writer is Chairperson, Siddiqui's International School and Treasurer, Bangladesh English Medium School Association
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