From the Deputy Rector
Tū Rangatira | Integrity
The development of Artificial Intelligence applications has posed increasing challenges as the year has progressed and in recent weeks has provided ample opportunities for discussions focused on Tū Rangatira | Integrity.
The purpose of assessment is to demonstrate knowledge and skills in a specified area; what a young man knows and what he can do with that knowledge. Unfortunately, a number of young men have elected to utilise AI applications to help construct their answers. This means that the work they submit for assessment is not their own and does not reflect their ideas. Consequently, work that has been completed using AI cannot be considered authentically a young man's work.
Upon their enrolment at Palmerston North Boys' High School, all students and parents sign an authenticity agreement stating that the work they submit for assessment will be their own work. This agreement is also completed by students when they submit assessment tasks for marking (please see below). Assessment work that is not a student's own - that is plagiarised - is ineligible for NCEA credits and will result in a discipline process being followed.
We have spoken at assembly about the importance of ensuring that work submitted for assessment is a student's own and these discussions have been continued in classrooms. We would appreciate it if parents were also having these discussions with their sons.
Senior Examinations
Palmerston North Boys' High School examinations for students studying NCEA subjects take place from Wednesday 6 - Tuesday 12 September. These examinations are important as they provide both your son and his teachers with a concrete indication of student progress and will highlight both the topics and Achievement Standards that young men are well prepared for as well as those that should be the focus for revision. The work that your son does to revise in preparation for these examinations will also be helpful in his preparation for the NCEA examinations in term 4. The earlier he begins revising the information he has learned during the year the greater the chances of it being retained in his long-term memory i.e. the greater the likelihood that he has genuinely learned it. Additionally, the results from these examinations will be used should a derived grade need to be applied for if a young man misses an NCEA examination through illness, injury or bereavement. Despite what your son may tell you, these examinations are important.
Employment Skills
A Sunday Star-Times article titled ‘Keeping up with the job market’ identified that being ‘employable’, offering a range of skills and attributes sought by employers, is essential. This article emphasised the growing importance of ‘soft skills’ such as relationship building, interpersonal abilities and empathy. Such skills are components of ones EQ, or emotional quotient. While the idea of IQ, or intelligence quotient, is well established and understood, the concept of EQ is much more recent. However, the recognition of the importance of EQ skills is rapidly growing; being able to relate well to others, to form positive relationships with a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds and to have empathy for the situation and emotions of others, are some of the key attributes.
Being self-aware is a key component of developing EQ and includes; knowing your emotions, managing your own emotions, motivating yourself, recognising and understanding other people’s emotions and managing relationships. The ability to effectively collaborate with others is becoming essential in increasingly connected work environments, making the acquisition of such skills vital for future success. Being of ‘good character’ encompasses attributes such as these, and emphasises several of our school values; acting with integrity at all times, having humility and treating others with respect are all traits contributing to the development of ones EQ.
Resilience
A further character trait, and one that is increasingly coming under the spotlight, is resilience. As those of us with a bit more experience under our belts understand, life is full of challenges, and we will inevitably face setbacks and failure. It is often through experiencing failure, or in endeavouring to overcome hurdles to our progress, that we learn the most. The manner in which we respond when ‘the going gets tough’ – to either persevere and produce our best effort regardless of the circumstances, or give up in the face of a challenge – is a reflection of our individual level of resilience. Our level of resilience, in turn, is a product of our upbringing and life experiences.
In ‘How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success’, author Julie Lythcott-Haims voices her concern that the growing culture of ‘helicopter parenting’ is preventing young people from developing the ability to deal with all that life puts before them. No longer do many parents usher their children into adulthood by ‘walking alongside them’ and guiding them through life’s obstacles and periods of challenge, more and more they are ‘walking in front’ and removing the obstacles and challenges so their children do not have to face them.
It is understandable, to an extent, that parents increasingly take this approach. However, in doing so their children do not get to experience the learning that comes through persevering in the face of a challenge, or the invaluable learning that comes from experiencing failure. Lythcott-Haims asks “When and why did parenting change from preparing children for life to protecting them from life?”
She argues that a change of perspective is needed. If we focus on raising a child, that is exactly what we will get; a child. Instead, we should be focused on raising an adult, as ultimately that is what our children will become. Further questions she poses include “Have parents done so much for their children that they have been deprived of opportunities to develop a belief in their own selves? What will become of young people who are qualified and accomplished on paper but lack the ability to make their way in the world without the constant involvement of their parents? How will the real world feel to young people who have grown accustomed to problems being solved for them and praise being heaped upon them at every turn?” and, most tellingly, “How, and when, do young people become adults?”
Lythcott-Haims links the advent of the cell phone to a decrease in young people’s ability to problem-solve and organise themselves, referring to them as “the world’s longest umbilical cord.” Instead of attempting to solve issues for themselves, many young people’s first instinct is to contact someone, usually a parent, to solve the problem for them. Prior to cell phones, we had to speak with our parents in the morning and organise what was going to happen during the day and then had to ensure we were on time and ready for the commitments we had made. Nowadays much of this has disappeared; no thought is given to prior planning and there is an expectation that the person on the end of the phone will drop what they are doing to respond. How is this suitable preparation for an independent and autonomous adult life?
It is essential that parents are engaged in their son’s schooling. Indeed there is much evidence to tell us that parental involvement is an essential component of academic success. However, there is a distinct difference between parental support, in which young men are given advice and direction on how to approach life’s difficulties, and parental dominance, in which any problems or issues that arise are resolved by the parent.
A checklist of essential skills is provided by Lythcott-Haims, who states that an eighteen-year-old:
· Must be able to talk to strangers – be able to make health care appointments, talk to a mechanic about their car, open a bank account, negotiate with a landlord.
· Must be able to navigate – whether this is around town, in getting from city to city, around a university or polytech campus.
· Must be able to contribute to the running of the household – make their own lunch, cook meals, do their own laundry and mow the lawns.
· Must be able to handle interpersonal problems – be able to talk with peers, employers or teachers when there are problems.
· Must be able to cope with the ups and downs of academic programmes – respond positively to failure, understand that this is only a setback, not a terminal problem.
· Must be able to earn and manage money – find employment outside of parental contacts, and have to budget what they have earned.
· Must be able to take risks – if they don’t, how do they learn from failure, how do they develop their perseverance skills?
How many of these things does your son do for himself, and how many of these are done for him? Celia Lashlie’s advice for parents – mothers in particular – was to stop making their sons lunch. Why? Because this will be a first step in forcing him to take responsibility for himself. It is also likely to teach some lessons about cause and consequence – the consequence of him not making his lunch is that he will be hungry.
Overparenting is beginning to be linked to increases in adolescent mental health issues. The conclusions from a 2010 study, that students with helicopter parents were generally more vulnerable, anxious and self-conscious, were typical of the results. Conversely, a number of studies identified that students who had been allowed to take risks and experience failure through their childhood and adolescence were less likely to be confronted by mental health issues.
Young men need to be encouraged to take greater responsibility for themselves. Undoubtedly they require help and guidance, but more importantly they need the tools to get on successfully in life, and many of these are surprisingly basic. As starters, they need to have the skills to organise their day in advance without relying on cell phone contact with parents. They need to be able to make their own lunch and bring it to school. They need to understand the importance of being punctual and having a good attendance record (what employer will want them if they can’t meet these basic expectations?).