The attention span of today's typical teenager is - not to put too fine a point on it - short. There are two exceptions: when a teen is watching television or playing video games. More recently, reading Harry Potter is a possible third.
Is it any wonder that parents and teachers can't get through to them? Enter Chioma Ikejiani - and all this is changing. The African Canadian community has cultivated some phenomenal women, willing to give their time, knowledge and expertise to make this world a better place.
Ikejiani is one of these stars. She is on a mission to show students from Grades 7 to university level the importance and impact of the Three Rs. But her Three Rs are Respect, Responsibility and Restraint.
Winding her way across Greater Toronto to visit high schools and universities, she delivers a series of talks designed to enlighten and motivate students. I asked Ikejiani, a successful real estate agent and TV talk show host-in-waiting, how this came about.
"Pat Brennan did a feature on me, about my rags to riches story, in the Toronto Star in 1995," she said. It focused in her life working as a sales clerk in a prestigious Yorkville store, then leaving the job because her employer refused to put her on commission, which would have meant a substantial increase in her salary, based on her hard work and ability to sell.
Unable to find another job soon enough, she became destitute and briefly was on welfare. But her determination and drive eventually led her to become a success in the real estate business, with a salary in the six-figure range. "That story prompted several students to call me, then a teacher called and asked if I would speak to her class.
After that speaking engagement, I realised there was a tremendous need. Young people of all colours, races and creeds need someone to motivate them. I knew I had to try. That's how it began."
Being aware of the attention deficit of teenagers, I asked, "How do you get them to sit and listen for 90 minutes to such an 'uncool' topic like the Three Rs?" Her solution? She relates her dramatic personal story at the beginning - as an attention grabber. Allowing the teens to participate, praising them and being close by walking among them also helps, she says.
She also travels with gifts from her sponsors (including Roots, Indigo and Toys R Us) and these are given out at the end. A few weeks ago, I watched Ikejiani at work when she interacted with the students at St. John of the Cross school. The word "interact" is used because it was deliberately not a lecture.
At the beginning, raised hands were sparse when questions were asked but Ikejiani soon warmed them up. The atmosphere in the room was electrifying as Ikejiani delved into her message about the Three Rs: · Respect: Students should speak without offending, listen without defending, focus on respect as a communication tool. · Responsibility: Make yourself responsible for your actions and for your future. · Restraint: Have the power to stop yourself from actions or words that may hurt others and come back to hurt you.
Ikejiani sashayed into the crowd of 200 students, encouraging them to speak and answer questions and soon she had them eating out of her hand. I watched the room come alive; before long, the auditorium was filled with hands waving, students on their feet wanting to talk, to answer questions, to share their experiences. Using real, current examples, Ikejiani demonstrated the downside of living with the Three Rs.
In talking about restraint, she used as an example the horror of 14-year-old Dimitri (Matti) Baranovski's death because other youths had not turned away from violence. For lack of responsibility, she mentioned students who talk on the telephone for hours and forget to do their homework. For lack of respect, she cited how young adults talk to their friends.
Wooing her young audience, she stated emphatically, "The body is a temple." She mentioned the increased violence between young women and referred to the death of 14-year-old Reena Virk from British Columbia. Virk was an introvert with low self-esteem. She yearned to "belong." Under false pretence, she was lured to a park to meet some of her classmates, who beat her senseless. But that was not enough; one girl went on to kill Virk by drowning her, then boasted to her friends that she "finished her off."
I sensed the message getting through to the group. You could have heard a cotton ball bounce off the floor at the auditorium. Half a dozen teachers sat in the back row, listening closely, heads nodding acknowledgement.
Kudos to Ikejiani for being able to sell the students on the principles of the Three Rs. Karl Sprogis, principal of North Albion Collegiate Institute, wrote: "It is one thing for teachers to constantly advise students to do this or do that in order to achieve success. It is quite another for young people to see this success personified, as it is in Chioma." Hopefully, the lesson will remain with them always.