rebelling against low expectations
“Teens are irresponsible because their brains aren’t fully developed yet.” “Teens can’t handle grown-up tasks because the prefrontal-cortex doesn’t reach maturity till age 25.” You’ve heard these statements and others like them. They have guided public policy initiatives, informed parenting techniques, and enforced the myth of adolescence. Well...
Grades. That’s what we work for. Get good grades. Keep your GPA up. Aim for the 4.0. That’s what school is all about. Right? Wrong. School is about learning. For the Christian student, school is about worship. It’s about discovering the beauty and intricacy of God’s world and equipping ourselves to enter that world and shine for His glory. Believe it or not, the grading...
BOULDER, Colo. – A 17-year-old inventor in Boulder will receive a $50,000 grant to help develop a biometric sensor designed to prevent unauthorized people from firing guns. “I’ve been interested in technology for as long as I can remember,” Kai Kloepfer said. “After the mass shooting in the movie theater in Aurora in 2012, I started thinking about the role technology could play in preventing...
Here’s a revolutionary idea: Let’s stop complaining about school. Sure, homework can be mundane. Classes can be boring. Papers can be a nightmare. But education is 100% what we make of it. Our attitude matters. Think about it. Less than 1% of world gets to attend high school and college. Children and young people around the world risk their lives to get an education. Let’s make...
College students (and even high schoolers) have been told by well-meaning parents, teachers, and academic advisors: “Remember, you’re a student first.” The message behind this advice is simple and seems wise: Keep your priorities straight. Don’t let less important things crowd out the time, mental energy, and focus you need to maximize your time in high school or at...
(HuffPo) — At age 8, Maria Keller, of Orono, Minn., learned that not all children own a book. Determined to do something about it, she declared she would donate 1 million books to kids in need by the time she turned 18. Keller not only reached her goal this week, she did it five years early. On Tuesday, a children’s book publisher in Mankato, Minn., gave the 13-year-old philanthropist the...
(AP) — A Michigan teenager who wanted to raise awareness about cerebral palsy by walking 40 miles with his younger brother strapped to his back battled heat, rain, fatigue and more to finish the trek Sunday. Hunter Gandee, 14, had been planning for weeks to pull off the walk, hoping to put a face on the muscular disorder that prevents his 7-year-old sibling, Braden, from being able to walk...
(HuffPo) — Fifteen-year-old Nathan Han received the prestigious Gordon E. Moore award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which is the largest international pre-college science competition, for his creation of a software tool that can “identify and predict cancer-causing mutations in a person’s DNA.” “I did this by minding-mutation data from online...
(Politico) — A week before her high school graduation, Saira Blair was barely old enough to vote when she unseated a West Virginia lawmaker almost four times her age. After Tuesday’s GOP primary, the 17-year-old is one election away from becoming the youngest state lawmaker in West Virginia history. Larry Swan, sworn in as a 20-year-old delegate in 1972, set the current record...
(Upstart) — Few teens can lay claim to getting the attention of one Fortune 500 company, let alone two. Meet Mississippi teenager Sarah Kavanagh, who launched an online competition over an ingredient in both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola’s sports drinks. Both drink makers have removed it. Coca-Cola is dropping an ingredient its Powerade sports drink, following in the footsteps of its rival PepsiCo...
rebelling against low expectations
