Teenage Rebellion -Learning from the 3rd world?

[Sam Slater]

Been listening to a few Radio 4 documentaries lately about teenagers across the globe. We all know teenagers are rebellious and commit lots of crime across the western world, but is education part of the problem?

Generally teenagers come into 3 groups across the globe.

1) In education, but rebellious. Likely to be a nuisance and commit crime.

2) Homeless/Parents killed, Uneducated, making a living through begging and crime.

3) In low paid work/ child labour, uneducated but realise the importance of education. Low crime.

Now, the rebellious stage is mainly between the ages of 13-17. Schoolwork suffers, they argue and rebel, their need for money and independence is at it's peak, and life is generally unfair. During school I hardly learnt anything new from the ages of 14-16. Looking back -95% of my learning finished at 14 and the last 2 years of school life were based upon work experience, building up to exams and revision. It was mainly going over old stuff you'd already learnt and very boring. My brain wasn't stimulated for 18 months and I found it frustrating and tedious.

Wouldn't some kind of low paid work from the ages of 14-18 give teenagers a sense of adulthood and responsibility? They'd see a reward at the end of every week in the form of money to buy their expensive jeans & Nike trainers. They're craving for adulthood and this would be a taste. Upon reaching 18 they could then re-enter school/college for -say 4 years?- and finish off their education at a time when they're more responsible, reasonable, polite, stable-minded, mature and appreciative of learning. Also 4 years of stacking shelves/ serving at McDonalds may make them crave the education they hated at 14!

Apparently in Ghana, the more schools that are opening up for children the more rebellious teenagers are becoming. Apparently parents in Ghana had never heard of this phenomenon until recently.

Also, since students have to take out loans these days, the 4 years of work could be taxed to go towards further education upon reaching 18. Would this help lower crime & have happier, politer teenagers?

May not be practical, but something to ponder?

[c.j.jaxxon]

Sounds like a good idea. Those schools opening up in Ghana, if they are still rebelious it's probably the education they're getting is not up to snuff or it's just natural for teens to rebel at that particular age.

[planeterotica]

A lot of the trouble is the shite that todays trendy teachers implant into the kids brains and lack of parental control, all kids should have a better basic education so when they leave shool they can at least read and write and do basic arithmetic and then they would stand a better chance of getting a decent job instead of leaving school with useless qualifications that do not impress prospective employers.

[one eyed jack]

I'll vote Sam Slater to be the next home secretary !happy! You hit the nail on the head. it may not be a complete solution as there are always variables with human beings but hats off for not suggesting some kind of de-programming or beat it into your soull technique which people seem to have in dealing with this subject.

Parents are another form of government, control to kids and when they get older, smarter some do test the limits of their parents by rebelling. Like a lot of things its about meeting half way.

I can see your method of thinking working Sam.