The Consequence of social networking.. "What do you mean? Consequence?" are the questions that you probably have in your heads. Well ladies and gentlemen of East Barnet School, I'm going to be talking to you for the rest of this assembly about why I, teachers and many parents are concerned for your education and your future.
As some of you may know I am the leading figure in the board of directors for the schools in the borough of Barnet, which include many of your own parents. If you do not know what this group does our role is mainly to set the long term goals and set the schools here on a solid path for the future.
We are concerned for your education at this very moment of time because of the increased popularity of social networking that has hit this school in recent years. To those of you who know about the person that thought it was smart to record a poor supply teacher trying to deliver a lesson to an irresponsive class and decided to post it on Facebook, shaming the school and his own class, know that he is no longer with us.
The school's reputation and our ability to educate is now under strong scrutiny and it is one of the reasons that I am here talking to you today. Social networking is truly a fantastic things but all fantastic things have drawback; when it first came out I was excited at this new era of people connecting from the first networking site 'Friends Reunited' which linked long lost school friends to the newest of the lot, 'Twitter' and so on.
We are concerned for your education and your studies as we have observed that the s
The consequence of spending so much time on these social networking sites is simply that. Spending so much time. Time that is needed because of your upcoming exams. I cannot stress how much this period of time is important for your future, you need to spend an appropriate amount of time on your studies not on your tweets. Your studies not your snapchats. Your studies not your Instagram messages. Your studies and your future is what your time needs to be spent on.
Now, before you take this the wrong way, I'm not here ordering you to destroy your social lives for the sake of studying. I'm here to advise you on what you do during this period of time. I've been where you are right now and I'm not going to sugar-coat it. It's not going to be easy but I believe in this younger, technologically superior generation and I accept that you may know much more than me in terms of social networking but I know much more about the importance of these few years of your lives.
I appreciate that it is difficult but you have to resist the tightening grip of social networking sites and put them aside when you're trying to study. Make sure you are allowing yourself enough time to get the information that you need in your mind and keep it there, there will be opportunities to check out your thousands of messages after your revision.
I know you have been told this many times before but your GCSE's are your stepping stones to your A levels and your A levels are your stepping stones to university. If that is the route you want to take then you have to be focused, determined and resilient. Do not let anything stand in your way, especially the temptation of distraction. Spending your days occupied by these sites can be the difference between success and failure, between a solid future and a flimsy, uncertain one.
I've been talking to parents of students your ages all around Barnet in the past year and the majority of them do not appreciate how much they are stuck to their phones on social networking sites. Like they are connected to them by a chain, a chain that has to be broken when trying to study. My son is starting his first year of sixth form this year and the results he got in his GCSEs were, hard achieved, but very good and I am proud of him. But the struggle of separating him from his phone was biblical.
There's no need to make it hard on yourself, you have great teachers here that can help you with your revision and your general studies. Go to them if you need any advice, if you ever see me around school feel free to come up to me for any advice you may need. If you are finding it hard to study at home due to distractions of any sort I can have it arranged with your head of year to have a set room or area for your studies.
Believe in yourself, you will get to where you want to and leap over any hurdle that stands in your way. You just have to be dedicated and hardworking and it all starts here. You have to be resilient. You have to be tenacious. You have to be able to shrug off any distractions that lie in your way, do not listen to the sceptics. Believe in yourself and you will be able to succeed.
Thank you for your time year 10, 11 and 12.
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