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COVID Put Our Teens Deep in the Hole of Academic Failure. Here’s Help.
A doable 5-part plan to engage the teenage mind.
The majority of teens are not geeks, driven to learn for learning’s sake. They go to school to meet their own intrinsic needs. For most adolescents, a group that is developmentally driven to prioritize peer friendships, the need met by school is strictly social.
Enter COVID, virtual school, quarantining, and what do you get? A whole lot of kids deep in the hole of academic fail: refusing to get on Zoom, stacking up missed assignments, watching their grades plummet.
The parents reaching out to me for teen coaching cite academics as their greatest concern. They’re desperate, and with good reason. The mental health of students doing distance learning is declining; suicide rates are increasing. Meanwhile, as the Biden administration looks toward reopening schools, the focus is on grades kindergarten through eight. Who’s looking out for the teens?
In typical Gen Z style, they’re looking out for themselves. This generation doesn’t truck with the slacker vibe of their Gen X parents. Instead they see an issue, get anxiety about it, and band together to find a solution.
Case in point: the email that just hit my inbox. It was from a high schooler who…
