Related to the last, another piece of Scott Reid’s lesson on Development that I stole was around 18 things an 18-year-old should know. I gave students four articles, asked them to read just one, and put 4-minutes on the clock. Here are the four articles provided:
- 18 Life Lessons I Learned in 18 Years
- 18 Lessons I’ve Learned in 18 Years
- 18 Things You Should Learn By the Time You Turn 18
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The 18 Life Skills Every 18-Year-Old Needs
Then, I asked them to think of what three things they’d include on their own list.
Many students included some aspect of financial literacy in their responses, such as “Knowing the value of money. SF kinda fucked us on this one to be honest. Apparently ordering a $40 meal for lunch isn’t normal,” “credit score, bc idk how that works,” or “Learn to handle your money because we won’t have parents to give us money forever.”
An equal number of students indicated learning to care more as stressed the importance of not caring so much. For every example of “hustle. Every day,” “Work hard so you can be proud of yourself,” and “work hard at everything,” there was an equal number of “relax. Everything will unfold as it’s intended,” “Live in the moment and enjoy it,” and “Worrying is unlikely to fix the bad things and will only prevent you from enjoying the good.”
Other dichotomies were “Enjoy your own company” and “surround yourself with people who make you happy” or “Be independent” and “ask for help when you need it.”
Quite a few submissions hinted at regrets in their lives already, such as: “don’t quit the thing you actually enjoy,” and “keep your hobbies, even though they don’t go on your resumé.”
Many items on their lists were about relating to others. Some were as simple as “Thank your parents” while others were about strangers: “everyone has something going on behind the surface so be nice.” At least one student remembered their teachers: “Be polite. To waiters, family, teachers, it never hurts to smile and be nice. When people are working and are being forced to be nice to you, you should be nice back.”
Dozens of students wrote about the power of being outdoors and in nature. Many posed this in opposition to technology: “Nature and Music are infinitely greater than social media and gaming.” Others acknowledged this was not the norm for their peers: “I know that some were not raised hiking or going on adventures but train yourself to find some peace in the outdoors.”
I’ve saved their submissions to this activity, but am not yet sure what I’ll do with them — though, frankly, anything more is actually unnecessary. Even through Zoom, I could see them reading each other’s submissions and nodding in agreement. All in all, it was an easy and effective activator for the Development unit.