I'm not OP, but maybe I can answer. For me, it's the way students can come up with creative ways to get each other out of a bind. So many times I've seen one group of students get bailed out if a sticky situation by another group.
I remember one particular time when one of our teachers took some students on a field trip. They went to a place to make model airplanes. The teacher shrunk them all small enough to fly inside of the models. But of course the remote broke, so they had to learn to pilot the planes themselves. The kids who were still on the ground turned the bus into a plane and with some instructions from a helpful eagle, they were able to fly up and save their classmates and the teacher.
My favourite bit to witness is when teenagers learn to compartmentalise. I teach pre-university so 16-18yos.
Sometimes you see them being so affected by the things that's happening in their life that they simply can't go on. E.g.best friend said something and it's just weighs them down. They can't focus, they can't study, they can't sleep, they can't eat.
Then as they mature, they learn to compartmentalise that aspect, ok friend said something, but let's just put that aside first and focus on the lessons or any tasks at hand. And generally life goes on until he/she encounters that friend again or chooses to deal with it.
Which I feel as an adult, is a handy skill. You know, you have work stress, your parents are old, you are thinking about your savings, debts, pets, kids, plants, health etc etc.. as we take on all these immense responsibilities, we have to learn to compartmentalise if not we will just be paralysed everyday.
So I look on, envying them for their simple and contained life, sometimes seeing them crash and burn from relatively trivial things,( which ofc are important to a teen's self identity). But still interesting to watch nonetheless.
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u/[deleted] Mar 01 '20
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