Troubled Teen Boarding Schools in New Zealand
America isn’t the only country with troubled teenagers who are better served by a specialty school or schools for troubled teens. A state sponsored program in New Zealand takes a slightly different strategy in educating their out of control teens, with more of an emphasis on education that will likely assist their troubled teenagers with a job in addition to academic credentials.
“It is a day program with classroom time in the morning and in the afternoon the teens learn practical farming skills such as fencing, managing horses, horticulture as well as workshop skills such as engineering and welding.
“The simple fact, is that our kids don’t fit within the school model. [We teach] those general practical things – still from an education basis but looking at that outcome of learning for the future,” he said.”
The tenets to which this school subscribes are universal values that defy all of the pop psychology thrown at the problem of troubled teenagers; Motivation, Work Ethic, Belief in Self.
“So we actually end up with a plan of action around the young person and, while you get some sort of resistance, as you start knocking off all those problems you start to resolve the situation. And I think that is actually what makes us different,” he said. The most successful cases are those where parents also participate.”
The essential need for parents to be closely involved in their teens education is also a universal value. In the end, it would seem this ageless wisdom will always be superior to the coddling and victim card mentality presently handed to teenagers in the public educational system.
Relevant Tags:academic credentials, public educational system, schools for troubled teens, specialty school, troubled teen boarding schools, troubled teenagers, universal values, workshop skills, work ethic
