My father's birthday was last week. My own birthday is exactly a month before his. This week also marked 10 years since I returned from Russia as a religious service missionary. 10 years is a long time - a decade - and it is a length of time that we only have so many of. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2006 the average life expectancy of someone with at least a BS/BA by age 25 was 81 (citation figure 32 pg. 37). According to Wikipedia (the fount of all knowledge) Utah has a life expectancy of 80.2 years. So 8 decades to live you life, make your mark, and change the world.
Our first decade is a little tricky. Physically we grow faster and more than any other period in our life. If we were to continue growing at that rate things would get tricky. We also learn most of the basics skills necessary to care for ourselves and are physically capable of performing critical functions. We also develop mentally, socially, emotionally, and morally to a point where we have set a foundation for our future self. However, most people can't remember the first half of their first decade and other may not have too many memories of the second half. In terms of wide impact on the world there are limits to what the typical ten year old can do.
Our second decade tends to be a bit clearer in our minds. High school, puberty, and preparing to enter "adulthood" will do that. Not to mention our physical, mental, and social development over those years. As our bodies and minds change so do our abilities and capabilities. Some would wish to banish memories of this time while others feel that events such as junior high are creations of sadistic administrators. For my own part, high school was an okay experience, but starting college was better. You see more instances of teenagers impacting the world and society beyond their immediate area, but it is still early yet. Working with a lot of college freshmen who are at the end of this particular decade has shown me that most of them have no clue what their path in life is like. Some do and go on to achieve it, but the majority have no clue. This is because interests change, views expand, and experiences shape us, particularly as we enter our twenties.
The 1920's was known as the "Roaring Twenties" and, perhaps, we should consider this third decade of life as similar. They bare some direct similarities as 21 is the minimal age to buy alcohol in all states, many people in their twenties leave the nest, and starting careers often means they are funding their own entertainment. I can't speak about the vocational side as my experience personally and professionally involves college students. I've seen many students come out of high school, enter college away from home and revel in the resulting freedom. However, I've seen those revels result in everything from bad grades to armed robbery. One of the two "men" in the armed robbery story was a student in my College Success Skills class.
There is a lot of research on what has been termed Student Development Theory. As someone who has been exposed to many different theories of cognitive, ethical, racial identity, social, intellectual, and various other kinds of development I find it an interesting lens through which to look in order to try to address students' needs. With that said, each individual student has their own experience and their own development path. I don't know if it is possible to give a brief outline of what people "typically" go through in this decade, so I'm not going to worry about it. Most enter their career field, some doing so after college, others doing it without college. Social relationships outside of family become more important with people considering marriage or other long term relationships. In short, this is the decade that is often seen as, "the beginning of the rest of your life." And it is the one that I have officially past out of.
In the moment, it's hard to imagine that I still have five decades of life ahead of me. I remember my father telling me that there will come a time when I'll be able to look back on a ten year period, see the accomplishments I have made and then project that into the future and the possible accomplishments I'll be able to make. I've had that in mind as I've gotten older. I remember my father being a little down as he contemplated his own statement. I think it must have been around his 40th birthday. He doesn't handle the decade years well. I would tease him about it but when he turned 50 he threatened to bodily throw me off Angle's Landing. I want to make it to 50 so I don't bring it up.
The 1920's was known as the "Roaring Twenties" and, perhaps, we should consider this third decade of life as similar. They bare some direct similarities as 21 is the minimal age to buy alcohol in all states, many people in their twenties leave the nest, and starting careers often means they are funding their own entertainment. I can't speak about the vocational side as my experience personally and professionally involves college students. I've seen many students come out of high school, enter college away from home and revel in the resulting freedom. However, I've seen those revels result in everything from bad grades to armed robbery. One of the two "men" in the armed robbery story was a student in my College Success Skills class.
There is a lot of research on what has been termed Student Development Theory. As someone who has been exposed to many different theories of cognitive, ethical, racial identity, social, intellectual, and various other kinds of development I find it an interesting lens through which to look in order to try to address students' needs. With that said, each individual student has their own experience and their own development path. I don't know if it is possible to give a brief outline of what people "typically" go through in this decade, so I'm not going to worry about it. Most enter their career field, some doing so after college, others doing it without college. Social relationships outside of family become more important with people considering marriage or other long term relationships. In short, this is the decade that is often seen as, "the beginning of the rest of your life." And it is the one that I have officially past out of.
In the moment, it's hard to imagine that I still have five decades of life ahead of me. I remember my father telling me that there will come a time when I'll be able to look back on a ten year period, see the accomplishments I have made and then project that into the future and the possible accomplishments I'll be able to make. I've had that in mind as I've gotten older. I remember my father being a little down as he contemplated his own statement. I think it must have been around his 40th birthday. He doesn't handle the decade years well. I would tease him about it but when he turned 50 he threatened to bodily throw me off Angle's Landing. I want to make it to 50 so I don't bring it up.
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