Inspiration always seems to strike me at obscure hours of the night. It's 4 am and for some reason it'll have a different time stamp when I post this, but whatever. I almost posted this on my other blog - that one is mostly nonsense where as this one is where I try to address issues in society that bug me - but I think this post will work well on this blog.
I know a lot of people have differing opinions on whether or not teenagers should get jobs. I also know that there are a lot of places of employment that prefer not to hire teenagers. I, for one, think that's silly.
I've heard people say that teenagers should have jobs because they're irresponsible. But here's what I want to know...how the hell are we supposed to learn how to be responsible if we never get a chance to try?
A really good example of this is myself compared to my twin brother. His name is Liam and aside from one summer he spend painting a house for a family friend, he's never had a job. I on the other hand, have been working since I was 15. Not excessive hours or demanding labor, but I've had consistent employment. My first job was teaching dance at a local studio, I worked there for three years and just this past year was hired by a new studio. I also worked as a nanny last summer and was offered the position again this summer but I turned it down. More recently I got my lifeguard certification and have already worked a week at a camp and just today was hired to guard at my school's pool as well as to do another week at the camp.
The differences between Liam and I are small, but important. I do better in school - I graduated with honors, he did not. I have a clean room, he does not. I do my own laundry, he does not. It's little responsibility type things here and there where the differences lie. You could easily make the argument that it's just because he's a boy and I'm a girl, but we used to be much more similar - both irresponsible. And then I got my first job where I was required to open and close a business all by myself, deal with parent's question and concerns all by myself, teach several classes of dancers all by myself and choreograph routines all by myself. I had to learn responsibility and it translated into other sectors of my life.
So when I hear people who don't like the idea of teenagers having jobs, it's drives me nuts. The best thing for a teenager is a job. I'm kind of an expert on being a teenager and believe me, we could all use a little more responsibility.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Milestones
A massive part of a teenager's coming of age journey is their graduation from high school. For many, it signifies the beginning of them becoming independent. If the future holds a college degree, then there are about three months standing between a new graduate and freedom. If the future holds a direct path to a job then independence may come even sooner. Regardless, a high school degree guarantees that you will never again be forced to appear to school at 8 am and absorb knowledge until 3 pm. You're free baby!
I graduated just over a week ago, and let me tell you what, I can't be happier that it's over. My senior year was a drag, but that's a whole other story. It went slow though, guys, real slow. But now I am officially a high school graduate. Whoopee!
It's funny though, while I definitely had been counting down the days until graduation since about November, I feel like it wasn't such a great feat. Not at any point in my life did anybody think I wouldn't make it. I'm a pretty straight laced kid. I graduated with honors, ranked 10th in my class of 163. I managed education and extracurriculars and I've had a job since I was 15. Both of my parents went to college, as did three of my four grandparents and my dad has a masters degree. It was always kind of expected that I would graduate and I never did anything to cause any doubt.
So although it's a milestone that I graduated, and it was certainly an exciting event, I'm not the one who needs praise here. I want to give a shout out to the girl in my class who had a baby last summer and has managed to come to school every day in addition to working to provide for her baby. Way to go! There were also two guys who graduated who I didn't think were because I hadn't seen them in school all year. It turns out they were working full time jobs, and one of them has a child. I don't know what kind of program they went through to get the right course credits, but they did, and I think they should be proud. There's another kid who ran away two years ago and was completely AWOL for about four months. He's back, he straightened himself out, and he graduated. High five.
I don't write any of this to put these people down. I sincerely think that they've done a great job. It's easy to manage high school if that's the only thing you have to manage. But when the other stuff comes along and threatens to get in the way yet you persevere anyway, that's impressive.
Class of 2013, you done good.
I graduated just over a week ago, and let me tell you what, I can't be happier that it's over. My senior year was a drag, but that's a whole other story. It went slow though, guys, real slow. But now I am officially a high school graduate. Whoopee!
It's funny though, while I definitely had been counting down the days until graduation since about November, I feel like it wasn't such a great feat. Not at any point in my life did anybody think I wouldn't make it. I'm a pretty straight laced kid. I graduated with honors, ranked 10th in my class of 163. I managed education and extracurriculars and I've had a job since I was 15. Both of my parents went to college, as did three of my four grandparents and my dad has a masters degree. It was always kind of expected that I would graduate and I never did anything to cause any doubt.
So although it's a milestone that I graduated, and it was certainly an exciting event, I'm not the one who needs praise here. I want to give a shout out to the girl in my class who had a baby last summer and has managed to come to school every day in addition to working to provide for her baby. Way to go! There were also two guys who graduated who I didn't think were because I hadn't seen them in school all year. It turns out they were working full time jobs, and one of them has a child. I don't know what kind of program they went through to get the right course credits, but they did, and I think they should be proud. There's another kid who ran away two years ago and was completely AWOL for about four months. He's back, he straightened himself out, and he graduated. High five.
I don't write any of this to put these people down. I sincerely think that they've done a great job. It's easy to manage high school if that's the only thing you have to manage. But when the other stuff comes along and threatens to get in the way yet you persevere anyway, that's impressive.
Class of 2013, you done good.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Let's Be Good People
My generation gets a lot of crap for being losers. And while I agree that the many of my peers have terrible work ethics, less than satisfactory decision making capabilities and a severe case of the "me me me" disease, I think a lot of that is due to the standards we're held to.
The inspiration for this post is a quote I saw online that eluded to the fact that the blame for any suckiness that may exist in my generation should be blamed on the generation before us, our parents, for the way they raised us. My first thought is that that's such typical behavior, a refusal to take responsibility. Nice work friends. But at the same time, it makes me wonder what would be different about the whole situation if we were, as an entire generation, held to higher standards.
The dance studio where I work recently had their recital. That night I gave all my dancers hand-written notes, just congratulating them on the year and thanking them for the experiences I've had with them. The next day I got this email from one of the moms:
I just want to say you have been such a great role model for the dance girls. You were tough when needed and I appreciate you holding them to high standards, good work ethic, timeliness, and discipline. We need more of this for the young generation!! Thank you for taking the time for writing an individual note to each girl. Alex was so touched and literally bawled her way through it. You had an impact on her! Thanks for supporting her!!
The studio just opened this year and the majority of my students had danced before at a studio I, myself, trained at when I was younger. When they started class with me my expectations were so much higher than they had ever been used to, and because I knew the environment where they were coming from, I knew that they would be totally overwhelmed by my demands.
But guess what.
It took about a month, but eventually they got used to me. And they began to excel. As stated in the email, I expected the girls to come to class on time, to be prepared to work, and to never half-ass anything. If they missed a class and thus missed new choreography, they knew they were supposed to be caught up on whatever they missed before the next class - I would not re-teach anything, I would always answer any questions though.
I take full responsibility for making almost all of the girls cry at least once. And while it breaks my heart to see my girls unhappy in the environment I provide, I know at the end of the day it's what they need. Me letting it slide when they arrive 15 minutes late to a rehearsal the week before a competition is not going to do them any good.
My point is, that higher expectations reap more beneficial rewards. Raising the bar might make some people upset to begin with, but my goal is never to make everyone happy all the time - in the studio and in real life - my goal is to do my part in making things better. If that was everybody's motivation I'd be interested to see what kind of comments would be made about my generation.
At the end of the day, expectations are a significant indicator of what will actually happen. So raise your expectations of yourself and the people around you, and let's make this world a rockin' place to be.
The inspiration for this post is a quote I saw online that eluded to the fact that the blame for any suckiness that may exist in my generation should be blamed on the generation before us, our parents, for the way they raised us. My first thought is that that's such typical behavior, a refusal to take responsibility. Nice work friends. But at the same time, it makes me wonder what would be different about the whole situation if we were, as an entire generation, held to higher standards.
The dance studio where I work recently had their recital. That night I gave all my dancers hand-written notes, just congratulating them on the year and thanking them for the experiences I've had with them. The next day I got this email from one of the moms:
I just want to say you have been such a great role model for the dance girls. You were tough when needed and I appreciate you holding them to high standards, good work ethic, timeliness, and discipline. We need more of this for the young generation!! Thank you for taking the time for writing an individual note to each girl. Alex was so touched and literally bawled her way through it. You had an impact on her! Thanks for supporting her!!
The studio just opened this year and the majority of my students had danced before at a studio I, myself, trained at when I was younger. When they started class with me my expectations were so much higher than they had ever been used to, and because I knew the environment where they were coming from, I knew that they would be totally overwhelmed by my demands.
But guess what.
It took about a month, but eventually they got used to me. And they began to excel. As stated in the email, I expected the girls to come to class on time, to be prepared to work, and to never half-ass anything. If they missed a class and thus missed new choreography, they knew they were supposed to be caught up on whatever they missed before the next class - I would not re-teach anything, I would always answer any questions though.
I take full responsibility for making almost all of the girls cry at least once. And while it breaks my heart to see my girls unhappy in the environment I provide, I know at the end of the day it's what they need. Me letting it slide when they arrive 15 minutes late to a rehearsal the week before a competition is not going to do them any good.
My point is, that higher expectations reap more beneficial rewards. Raising the bar might make some people upset to begin with, but my goal is never to make everyone happy all the time - in the studio and in real life - my goal is to do my part in making things better. If that was everybody's motivation I'd be interested to see what kind of comments would be made about my generation.
At the end of the day, expectations are a significant indicator of what will actually happen. So raise your expectations of yourself and the people around you, and let's make this world a rockin' place to be.
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