Ode to Students
It’s that time of year again when parents, students and teachers are changing mode and getting back into the buzz of ‘back to school’ routine. It’s been a wonderful summer for many but like all things in life, there comes a time when we need to regroup and get back into a routine.
What is definite in life is change. Children are growing up and moving on and we too, as parents, need to adjust. Many parents are reciting the ‘Back to School prayer’, hoping for a good or a better year. It’s a sad sight at airports as parents and university students leaving home soak up those tears. At this level, it’s not only about missing their children but it’s knowing the many challenges their children will face as they work through their Rubik’s cubes of deciphering university life, figuring out life away from home, and finding what works for them in 8 short power-packed months of a university year.
Educators are bracing themselves for another year of surprises with vastly differing academic abilities in a class, and children who can think of hundreds of other things they’d prefer to do than read from textbooks and follow instructions in a classroom.
For some students going back to school, it could be a time that pumps them up for great learning adventures. For others, it’s once again another daunting challenge. Overall, it’s the uncertainty of the kinds of teachers they’d have, the unresolved academic challenges from the last year, who’d they’d be sitting next to, the friends they’d have, and the activities they’d have to fit in to, whether they like it or not. For children with added stress, it might be about unresolved issues from last year, like the bully in the same school, the physical education endurance activities that they would have to do, and the math and reading that they’d struggled to come to terms with last year.