“What’s REALLY Going on With Our Teens?” is pretty grim when you look at the entire scene. Sure, there are kids in various places who are excelling and prospering, but for lots of others that is simply not case. More than 1 million students stop going to school each year. The unemployment rate for people without a High School diploma is nearly twice that of those who do have one — and over a lifetime a high school drop out will earn $200,000 less than a high school graduate and about $1 million less than a college graduate.

Education has taken a back burner, I believe, in large part because of the “No Child Left Behind Act.” Those policies are a crock of BS! Our school system is failing our kids by not providing the tools and resources for kids to truly learn the basics. Without basic knowledge our kids face an uphill battle towards success. Unfortunately, it is often the schools (and therefore the kids) in the poorest neighborhoods that get the least amount of resources, making it difficult for these kids to learn the skills necessary to get good jobs.

I recently took a Spanish class where the instructor had 4 weeks to cram in so much material it was utterly ridiculous to think students would walk away feeling confident about all they were just shown. Notice I didn’t say taught — I said shown — because that’s literally how quickly the materials were introduced. To just continuously move through lessons without ensuring that the students grasp the gist of what’s being taught is RI-DIC-U-LOUS!

Isn’t the point of education to learn? No wonder kids get frustrated and drop out! Kids today need individual attention. Education is the key to a self-created world and without it one’s choices are minimal. Kids are losing interest and are seeking other means of fulfillment. Every minute a child’s dream is deferred and we, as adults who have been deemed the gate keepers, are letting them down.

So many other entities (drugs, alcohol, gang violence) are stepping in where our education system is falling short and depleting our young kids. With this knowledge we must consistently pour love into them. We do this by acknowledging their wins with praises and their mishaps with encouraging words. We do this by taking the time to speak with them but also making time to listen.

Be active in the lives of your children. Seek out additional resources that will ensure that your kids are being taught all of the things they need to know in order to be productive and successful adults. Find a mentor for your kids. Even if money is an obstacle, there are community organizations that provide resources (many of them free) that can help. “What’s Really Going on With our Teens?” gets easier to understand, once we all start communicating.

– Lyte

To read part one of my special series on teens, click HERE.