Let’s hear it for our youth!

This month we celebrate our youth and raise awareness of the challenges they face and their future importance in our society.

Youth Month takes place in many countries around the world. In South Africa, it is being celebrated under the theme “Accelerating youth economic emancipation for a sustainable future”.

Education is key to drawing more young people into the economy. Why? Because education raises productivity and creativity, as well as stimulates entrepreneurship and technological breakthroughs – all of which lead to greater economic growth and a sustainable economic future.

Research shows the direct relationship between how much you earn and your years of schooling. Each additional year of schooling means more money in your pocket, with a significant increase in those who have Matric (Grade 12).

Not only does schooling affect your earnings, but parents’ education level has a significant impact on their children’s success.

How do we nurture our youth?

  • Make learning fun by providing online class environments, digital lessons and books and teachers who can and do!
  • Empower the young through engagement in multiple activities beyond the classroom – in sport facilities, music, dance, entrepreneurship, community affairs, access to study / internet hubs.
  • Nurture the youth by embracing their youthful optimism, and listening to their banter and pleas. Know that you are ‘watering’ a beautiful bloom readying to unfurl if only you do your part in the ‘garden’.
  • Remain sensitive and responsive to the ‘tender stems’ of youth. Beyond their sometimes apparent brash, dismissive eye rolls, lie individuals yearning for your love, attention and care. Give it abundantly and freely.
  • Optimise the potential of the youth. Create, and support initiatives that give purpose and outlet to emergent youth development and activation – in the home, community and, at the work place.

Education for an empowered youth – we’ve got the answer!

It’s no secret that here at Think Digital, we take the slog and boredom out of learning and teach our online lessons in an interactive and engaging way. Perfect for ensuring that your children achieve their school goals while learning to love learning. Not only that, you can also learn at any age (see our Adult Matric). Curious? Why not try our online learning environment by enrolling for our free 14 day trial.

More to explore:

An ode to education

By Efterpi Sotiriou

‘Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learnt at school’ (Albert Einstein).

The task of education is widely multi-faceted, extending far above and beyond the narrow parameters of what is taught in the classic exchange of subject information at school.

Educators are commissioned with transmitting and inspiring an all-important value system as a carry-over life-tool. In application, however, the targeted paradigm of the student is a complex one, underpinned with youthful vulnerability, peer pressures, pre-established curriculum-rigid frameworks and parental prescriptions.

Critical questions arise, inter-alia:

  • What subject matter to include in the education journey?
  • Who decides on content, method, assessment?
  • How to dynamize content with life meaning?

Ultimately, the objective of the teacher is irrefutably daunting but privileged in equal measure. Empowering a child to enter ‘the big world’ with knowledge, skill, insight, sensitivity, tolerance, compassion and awareness must remain the objectives of the educator.

When confronted by decisions in their lives, pupils should be able to make informed choices. As educators, we are required to enable pupils to choose commitment and diligence over indifference, the difficult and worthy over the easy. We should empower them to defy mere conformity to robotized assessment expectations and develop their talents to the limits of their personal potential. The gains in self-respect are immeasurable.

We wish them to be proud of themselves, helpful, purposeful, generous-rather than selfish and self-centered. These are the attributes of true education. Its far-flung capacity should be earnestly sought, cultivated and upheld. It’s ‘the only way’.”

Free trial

Why not try our online learning environment by enroling for our free 14 day trial.

Great reading

6 Tips on how to keep your child safe on social media

Kids these days…

They’re almost always indoors. Influencing, and TikTok-ing, and weird internet challenge-ing.

These days, smartphones are the name of the game, and nearly every single child has one. We don’t even need to sing their praises, goodness knows you can probably get them to do that themselves. From scrolling through social media to snapping millions of selfies, if it ain’t a smartphone, teenagers nowadays ain’t interested.

Gone are the good ol’ days when we couldn’t wait to get home, not to do homework or anything – let’s get real – but we just couldn’t wait to get our hands on our parents’ classic Nokia cellphone so that we could spend the afternoon beating our previous score on Snake.

Fast forward a few years later and we had our very own brick of a phone with which to play games, try out polyphonic ringtones and send SMSs JUST long enough to not use up all our airtime and start sending “Please Call Me’s”. Just look how far we’ve come.

We live in the most awesome time in history – the digital age. Google has the answer to every question we can conceive, we never get lost because of GPS and TikTok captures our latest dance moves. But we all know that social media can be a tricky place to navigate, especially as a teenager. With their lives primarily lived online, teenagers are very vulnerable in the digital age and can easily find themselves in hot water if they don’t use the web responsibly. From cyberbullying to copyright infringement, avoiding these pitfalls is essential for staying safe and out of trouble. One innocent mistake can damage your child’s reputation, result in legal costs and even land them in prison. In this article, we’ll explore some of the ways you can help protect your child while they use social media.

  1. Set rules and expectations: Make sure your child understands the importance of being safe online. It may seem obvious to you not to share intimate information or photographs on social media, but explain the importance of this to your children. Talk to them about appropriate behaviour, such as not accepting friend requests from people they do not know, sending messages to strangers, and not meeting up with people they don’t know in person.
  2. Monitor activity: Many social media sites allow parents to monitor their child’s activity. Take advantage of these features and keep an eye on what your child is doing online.
  3. Educate yourself: Social media is more than a passing craze, it is a fundamental shift in the way our children communicate. Become familiar with the different social media sites your children use, so you understand how they work and can spot anything suspicious.
  4. Restrict access: Consider setting up restrictions on the devices your children use to access social media. You can also block certain websites and disable certain features. Teach your children that with great power comes great responsibility!
  5. Talk to them: It’s important to have regular conversations with your children about social media use, so they can feel comfortable talking to you if something bothers them or makes them feel uncomfortable online. Talk to them about context, tone and audience so they understand that saying something at a party to a particular audience is very different to posting something on social media where it can be misinterpreted and there is no little control over the audience.
  6. Report any suspicious activity: If you come across anything on your child’s social media accounts that seems inappropriate or dangerous, take action right away. Most sites have ways to report suspicious activity, so make sure to use these features if necessary.

By taking the time to protect your child while they are using social media, you can help ensure that they have a positive and safe experience. Remember – stay smart, stay safe and have fun in the digital age.

*Bonus* – if it feels wrong, don’t do it! That should be your mantra in the digital age. 🙂

Happy surfing!

Great reading

Mind Power courses

At Think Digital we’ve developed two short courses, Mind Power for Kids (ages 6 – 12) and Mind Power for Teens (ages 13 – 18), that is fun to take and teaches them how to navigate through life and remain positive and focused.

Free trial

Why not try our online learning environment by enroling for our free 14 day trial.