Youth Ministry – Subjects, Career and Importance
Youth ministry is an important job and requires extra ordinary leadership qualities, excellent communication skills and high level of management skills. Unfortunately, in most of the developing countries this subject was not being taken care of. Over a period of time, people have now realized the importance and significance of this subject.
Today, quite good numbers of institutes are offering degree programs, diplomas, certifications and courses on youth ministry. After a thorough and deliberate planning and discussions at all levels, a comprehensive individual level syllabus has been chalked out.
Issues That Make Substance Abuse Among the Youth More Problematic
Substance abuse is definitely a major problem in itself, but when the victim is a young person, the issue becomes much more serious. Today, there is a large number of treatment centers that cater especially to young people that are trying to come out of an addiction, but it is appalling to see how there are patients as young as ten and twelve years seeking admission to these centers. This clearly indicates that the age of people getting into chemical dependencies is going down. Moreover, these treatment centers claim that they face many more problems in doling out treatment to the younger patients than to adults. Here we discuss some of these problems that the treatment centers face in treating adolescent and teen substance abuse.
Ignorance in the Patients
Lies, Innuendo and Oneupmanship in Shakespeare’s Poetry – “Sonnet 130″ and the Fair Youth Series
Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130″ is unique in its unglamorous portrayal of the so-called “Dark Lady” to whom it is addressed. In it, the narrator offers us a startlingly generous list of differences between the Dark Lady and your stereotypical beauty: she has ugly lips, a bad complexion, frizzy hair, colorless cheeks, smelly breath, an unmelodic voice, and a funky gait.
Giggles aside, what makes this description more compelling than Shakespeare’s other sonnets – particularly those in the “Fair Youth” series – is the fact that the narrator mentions the Dark Lady’s breath, voice, and gait. Big whoop, you say? In the world within the poem, this woman breathes, speaks, walks, and lives as her own autonomous entity, which is much more than can be said for the youth to which most of Shakespeare’s other sonnets are dedicated. Check out “Sonnet 18,” for example, which insists that the youth only lives thanks to the awesomeness of the poem itself: “So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this and this gives life to thee.” Ouch.
John Hopkins Center for Talanted Youth
The John Hopkins Center For Talented Youth (CTY) is a talent search program that offers gifted students the chance to interact with peers on a similar intellectual level as well as recieve an education from some of the most talented scholars around the country. I am part of CTY and my experience has been wonderful. I have been able to meet students who think like I think, and who have the same interest in education that I have. CTY is one of many talent search programs around the country. They allow students to join based on either a aptitude test, 6th grade and under, or an SAT score. Once you are accepted in to the program, there are various options and resources available to you and your gifted student. There are seminars held at colleges around the country where you and your student will be treated to talks and discussions hosted by some of the countries most renowned scholars. Your student can take a distance course in areas ranging from English and Math to computer science and journaling. There are also trips to various countries where you and your student will not only be treated to an education, but you will be able to see some of the world’s most beautiful venues.
Personally, I have participated in both the one-day seminars and the distance programs. I have really enjoyed the one day seminars. They have allowed me to immerse myself in topics that I do not normally get to pursue during the normal school day. I have learned about subject areas from cryptography to marine biology. However, as much as I have enjoyed the seminars, I have enjoyed the distance courses even more. I have participated in two. One in English and one in math. Of the two I enjoyed the English more. In the math course, I worked by myself, and had the privilege to substitute my normal school math for the distance course. In contrast, the English course was a group of gifted students that were all writing for the same prompt. When we were done with our essay or writing piece, we would submit it to an online forum. Then our instructor would select three to four essays to post. Everyone would then read over the essays and comment on the positive and negative points of the writing. For me it was an enlightening experience. I had never had an English class where all of the students were on the same intellectual playing field as me. Each and every piece of feedback was meaningful and allowed me to enhance my writing. To this day, I have not had an experience such as this. What I also enjoyed was the ability to write without failing. As long as my essays were received on time, there was no chance that I would receive a bad grade. This allowed me to experiment with different styles and techniques that I would never have had the opportunity to try if I had been in a normal class. I strongly urge you to look into the CTY program. There is a strong possibility that it may change your gifted students life.
