I recently worked as a cover teacher at an English school in Larnaca and the experience – although only for two weeks – was certainly an eye-opener.
Firstly, I was very surprised at how reasonable morning traffic is in our town! I am used to doing a school run from Vergina to the New Salamina area then to Drosia to drop my own two off, and have never encountered bad traffic for that particular route, but I was terrified that getting to the school's more central location would mean gridlock. Despite starting lessons at various times – ranging from 7.30am to 12.50pm – I did not experience any major traffic. I am sure that there are areas that are prone to heavier traffic, but in general, Larnaca is a good town to drive in, so, spare a thought for your Nicosia and Limassol cousins who face daily jams en-route to work and back, and count your blessings!
But I digress… the eye-opener was an insight to the teenagers of today, and how they differ to the teenagers of my generation. There is a general issue with boundaries regarding authority and an absence of respect for elders in the new generation. This is a declining standard; my generation had far more respect than today's, but less than my parent's 'be-seen-but-not-heard' generation. I dread to think what my children's generation will be like… There are a variety of factors that play a role in this, from children being raised outside of the family due to both parents having to work, to the power of technology they have at their fingertips at too early an age.
If you have children of your own, or know people with children, no doubt a large proportion of them will have a tablet, or access to one from a tender age. We have so far not succumbed in our household, but the fight is getting harder and harder as they see their friends with them or hear about the different games they could be playing. And mine are only still six and four! The issue of mobile phones is thankfully further away, but I know it is only a matter of time, and every student that I taught these past two weeks not only had a mobile, they had an all-singing-all-dancing one!
Despite the technological advances teenagers have at their disposal, I do pity them for it. Yes, life as a student is now easier when you can use Google instead of an encyclopaedia, and can print off materials, but this is a poor trade-off for living your life in full digital view.
With almost every teenager having their own social media pages, they are unwittingly committing their every teenage mistake, angst and relationship to Cyberspace for all time. Young, naive human beings striking duck-face poses, writing their every little thought as a status update, and using their social profiles with such abandon will surely find that as adults they are filled with regret for what they put out there.
Teenage years are a time when you do make your mistakes, learn hard lessons, discover who you are and what you want to be (or at least you think you do!), and these are very private and personal rites of passage that at some point in your adulthood you want to forget or leave behind. This generation will never be able to escape the experience, and some will certainly be tarnished by it.
I am sure glad that I didn't live my teenage years out so publically, and I will fight tooth and nail to ensure my children don't either when the time comes.
First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 20/03/15
