Dr Kirsty Young

Born 1974, I obtained sufficient dexterity, picked up a pencil and made incoherent marks on the page. I scribbled intently with an accompanied verbalisation of my story to anyone who would listen. I progressed and began to make marks that vaguely represented the people, places and experiences that formed my immediate environment - a circle on top of a triangle - there's mum! I moved on to passing notes in class to socialise with my friends during formal education. I eventually learned (the hard way) the importance of advice given by mum early on "don't put in writing anything you wouldn't everyone to know".

I was not a 'pencil native'- deemed exception because I naturally picked up a tool which was valued by the society in which I was born and **amazingly** used at a basic level without formal instruction for a range of personally fulfilling purposes. This was not classed an astounding skill; it was a child's natural curiosity to engage and play - made more appealing because it enabled (at times) some kind of interaction with the people around me. 

I was capable of using the tool (pencil) but it took 'education' to take that rudimentary skill of scribble and turn it in to a functional communicative form, appropriate for my various stages of development and the audiences encountered throughout life.

We need to stop being fooled. Youth today are primarily doing the equivalent. Sure, the tools available to them are far more visually and interactively impressive but in reality they are taking what is available and being inquisitive. We place too much respect in their activities just because they are new. Parents and teachers are criticised for being out-of-touch, incapable of keepining up. Give us six weeks to be adolescents...no work, no bills, someone to shop, cook and clean for us and Gen X and Baby Boomers can get up to speed. More importantly, these adults will both master the technology and then apply their life experience to determine how these tools could most positively shape communication, socialisation and, importantly, opportunities for lifelong learning. Sure, now is a good time to rethink the role of teachers but, just because some people mistakenly believe that children know best, don't automatically diminish the importance of a teacher's role in learning - youth are not automatically best placed to monitor their own influence. We must value many teachers committment to facilitiating the growth of a future generation which is socially and environmentally aware, youth who value healthcare, education, progression and well-being of the majority.