“He’s the only one I’m allowed out to play with, but that’s okay,” said one of the toughest kids I’ve ever taught. My heart melted. Jim is a classic case of a diamond in the rough, and will be the first to offer me a sweet if he has the bag open on his way out for break. We both know it’s an apology of sorts, since in class he so rarely does anything I ask.
As we mark the Feast of the Epiphany, the celebration of the visit of the gifts-bearing Three Wise Men to Jesus, I’m reflecting on how wise this generation of school-goers is. Due to what they are living through, they are receiving gifts in the form of life lessons and the personal qualities these bring.
As a result, about 20 years or so from now, the world is in for a treat. By then we are likely to have the finest group of adults in key leadership roles in our governments and workplaces. The first signs of what they are capable of are there already – they were in plain sight in our schools and classrooms in the run-up to Christmas. It was quite extraordinary to watch youngsters’ collective capacity to accept that even Christmas isn’t exempt from Covid-19 restrictions.
The year produced learning for them that far exceeds what they can do in the classroom. They have skills and abilities than many of us only learned when we were a good deal older. We might quibble about which ones come to mind or resonate most powerfully, but here are three that I have observed up close – and admired.
Resilience is something we have all acquired more of, albeit forcibly. When we headed back after our February midterm, who could have imagined we were less than a month from school closure? This was no early summer holiday, whatever some may have thought. Many months of 2020 were defined by restrictive measures in society. Even for those of us who have lived through other difficult times, it was immensely hard to live a pared-down version of our lives, often while frequently under threat of further restrictions. As adults we struggled, even with our far larger range of life experiences, so how can we not openly admire the youngsters who met a similar challenge with so many fewer resources to draw on? We know it was a strain on them; statistics and experts alike tell us so. What we also know is that living through such experiences brings with it growth and learning.
Gratitude has taken the edge off the sense of entitlement modern young people are often accused of. They have had so much less in their lives recently that what was previously insignificant in the grand scheme of things has now increased in value. This is in part, of course, because they have been denied things they had perhaps come to take for granted.
Obvious examples include team sport training sessions, competitive events and seeing grandparents. These things usually feature heavily in most young people’s lives – and may even have seemed a chore at times. As in many schools, our approach to the Christmas break had to be very different, and festivities were both muted and minimal. Our students have never received less in the run-up to Christmas, but I have never heard them more grateful for the fact that there was anything at all.
Understanding has taken some time. What started out as grudging compliance has developed into a genuine recognition of just how important it is. Only the other day my heart soared as I watched a group of transition year students pass by the hand sanitiser and use it casually as they chatted. I felt an irrational pride in their easy naturalness towards something so unnatural. Like so many of their peers, they have grown in new and unexpected ways during 2020. Transition year in many schools traditionally represents far more freedom and huge proportions of time out of the classroom. Many must feel that this was too much like “normal” school for their liking.
Resilience, gratitude and understanding – these and so many others are extraordinary qualities to witness in such depth in ones so young. We have a responsibility to honour our young people for demonstrating them and accompanying wisdom beyond their years. It’s important to identify how these new talents can best be harnessed and used. We need to be prepared for what these young people are now capable of – and to encourage them to do it. At all school ages, but perhaps more so at second level, we have a cohort unlike any before.
In order for them to reach their potential, now greater than what we are typically used to, we must design and present them with challenges and opportunities. Given our performance in the OECD rankings on education, it’s abundantly clear that what we are currently doing falls short, so how can we expect our education system to meet the requirements of a more exceptional cohort? We have an opportunity to raise our game, and addressing the shortcomings in our system would be a first and fine way to honour the students who have raised theirs.
A second offering would be to plan ahead for this year’s school leavers and avoid the fiasco we had last year. There is simply no excuse for a repeat.
This is a January return to school like no other. In the same way as students honoured and thanked the adults who have kept schools open with #GRMA Day on 11th December, I hope that before the school year closes we will, again as a nation, recognise the students, and extend our thanks to them in the form of a similar day. That too would be a gift.
