Finding the right path

Finding the right path and learning pathway for your child is important. Dr Michael Nagel explains how being at school helps develop the teenage brain. Every young person is different and success looks different for everyone.

Transcript

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Narrator: Every young person is different and success looks different for everyone. Not every subject, class or learning experience will be the same for each young person. But by looking at the way we think about school and success, we can help our teens find their own learning pathway through school and beyond.

Michael: High school in that time of life is a stage. It’s a chapter. It’s not the end of the story. It’s barely the beginning. And it’s really, really important for that message to come across to young people so they don’t see some degree of finality with school. And we should be mindful of the fact that we can measure success in many ways. For example, how young people learn to get along with one another, how they learn to collaborate with one another, how they learn to communicate with one another. And all of these things are part and parcel of development during that time of life, because it’s really important for people to remember parents in particular that the human brain doesn’t fully develop until we’re in our third decade of life. And during that time of the teenage years, it’s a very critical time for young people to be around other people and getting to know other people and associate with other people. And that’s as much an important parameter of success as getting a grade on a report card. For parents, I think one of the most important things, and teachers as well, that they can do is is ensure that young people know that while high school is an important part of life, it’s not the be all and end all. There are ways to succeed that go beyond high school. So once you finish high school, entrance into university doesn’t necessarily have to be based on a score. There are multiple pathways to get into university if that is the pathway you choose. There are multiple ways to become successful that go beyond university. When high school finishes, life just begins.

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