© Victor Ochieng’
High school students are closing school this week. They are heading home for the long December holiday, which is somewhat full of fun and festivities. Somehow, they should make wise use of the holiday by balancing three things — home chores, personal study time and leisure. In this piece, allow the penman to point out how they can make wise use of the holiday ahead.
- Building useful bonds
Holiday is the time to bond with the family. Firstly, it is good to write a thank you note to express an attitude of gratitude to those who have offered them hope and help. In addition, it is advisable to help parents and guardians to attend to home chores. If a student knows how the parents or guardians make money, it is good to help them generate some handsome income. Perhaps this may make parents find ways to defray school fees and purchase academic materials with a lot of ease. Being in good terms with parents attracts the favour factor. Ephesians 6:1-3 admonishes children to honour their parents. For it is the first commandment with a promise — long life.
- Reading good books
During the holiday, students should cultivate rich reading culture. They should create more sessions to read notes, core-course books, storybooks, class readers, KCSE set texts, self-help books, newspapers and magazines. For Nassim Taleb observed, “A good book gets better at the second reading, a great book at the third reading. No book is quite the same when you read it again.”
A rich reading ritual enhances content mastery and memory. Reading props up levels of confidence. Again, reading enriches word banks. Through reading, students become better writers of imaginative compositions. Books are sources of interesting and intelligent conversation. Books boost ingenuity and creativity. Reading improves the attention and concentration span. Reading best books is the sweet secret to a good mood. It reduces stress, expands the brain, and exposes learners to novelty. Reading adds glamour to one’s grammar. It builds the verbal-linguistic intelligence.
- Completing all assignments
As students break for holiday, teachers have issued shedloads of assignments. Making wise use of the holiday means that they do not treat it as a complete break from the rigmarole of academic work. Instead, they should allot a lot time to brood on books than any other thing. In a larger sense, there is not time to waste on non-academic issues that can plunge them into problems.
- Borrowing academic practices
During the holiday, it is possible to meet and greet peers from other schools. It is wise to compare notes with them and ascertain Best Academic Practices worth benchmarking. There should be positive peer influence — with a special focus on learning literate habits, hobbies, routines and rituals.
- Engaging in edutainment
Entertainment is important. Teens love life full of fun. Things that make people laugh leave them in good mood. I am not writing to condemn such things. Albeit, I think that teens should choose edutainment instead of entertainment. Edutainment is entertainment that is both educative and informative. Teens should choose music and movies developing character and enhancing mental might. It is advisable to shun forms of entertainment that encourage lassitude — mental laziness. Watching dirty stuff such as p0rn0gry@phy leads to aberrant sexual behaviour.
- Wise use of media
In the distant past, Malcolm X, the African-American leader observed, “Media is the greatest entity on earth. It has the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent.” Therefore, if a young person can access a phone, it is good to use it wisely. During the school stasis caused by Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, students discovered that they could use electronic gadgets to learn and earn knowledge. Likewise, during this holiday, students can receive or read useful materials on useful platforms such as WhatsApp. They can attend lessons educative TV channels. They can use special sites such as YouTube to watch phenomenal speeches and didactic documentaries. They can find time to watch news during prime time in order to keep abreast with the current affairs.
- Participating in church
During the holiday, purpose-driven churches organise mentorship programmes in form of seminars, conferences and camps. It is important to attend such meetings and learn. It is right to attend church services to enhance intimacy with God Almighty. It is prudent to participate in church charitable programmes, hence learn to be kind, empathetic and altruistic in nature. It is good to participate in missions organised by the church. They can tap floods of blessings by volunteering to clean the church compound.
- Learning about careers
During the holiday, students should read relevant books and follow TV programmes that provide useful information about careers and future world of work. They can consult career counsellors. They can learn about careers through job shadowing —find time to visit places people are practising what they aspire to do in future.
- Unleashing the potential
Talent is in-born ability. Gift is divine-driven ability. Skill is an acquired ability. During the holiday, students should discover and nurture their talents. In 2 Timothy 1:6, Apostle Paul of Tarsus charged his protégé Timothy to fan his gift into flames. In Proverbs 18:16, Solomon in his winsome wit and wisdom wrote, “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” In addition, alongside hard skills learnt in school, students should use the holiday to develop soft skills, life skills, 21st century skills, transferable skills, employability skills, inter-personal and intra-personal skills.
- Learning from mentors
Young people should have right role models, people they can ape due to admirable qualities they evince. They also need mentors, trusted people who are more experienced in life that can inspire them to climb the lofty ladders of life.
There is an extraordinary book from the Centre of Creative Leadership titled the Lessons of Experience. In that heroic book, the putative authors said in substance: 50% of what we learn, we earn from experience. We learn 20% from mentors and coaches. We learn 20% from failure. We gain 10% from formal education. Sometimes, young people mess and miss the mark because of wrong choice of role models and mentors.
Finally, life is a journey, not a destination. Therefore, if they want to know the way, they should ask those who are coming back. Laurent D. Daloz got it right, “Mentors are guides; they lead us a long a journey of our lives, we trust them because they have been there before us.”
The writer rolls out talks and training services. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
