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Welcome to ANI In The Air Talk About Tuesday where I talk about something related to Sudbury
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School.
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This week's theme is boredom and so I'm going to talk about it.
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I already did one version of this and it was boring so I thought I'd do another one which
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would be less boring.
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The power of boredom in this context is quite immense.
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What our students are doing is really figuring out who they are, what they want to do, how
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the world works, how to interact with the world, how to be in a community and all these
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things.
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A lot of times it's go, go, go, particularly the young ones have a very visible running
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around go, go, go.
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But the older ones it's a verbal go, go, go, talking and being in group and all this stuff
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and it's very potentially taxing.
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One aspect of boredom is just it's a calming down period, a kind of a I need a break and
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then so you have that and then this feeling rises up when you've kind of had enough of
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that and that's kind of boring and now you'll seek out more.
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It's like your brain's ready for more adventures, misadventures perhaps.
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And so that's one aspect of boredom.
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Another one is the transition from young student to an older student.
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Somewhere in there is kind of a reorienting of one's interests.
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So we don't see 15 year olds doing the same thing as five year olds.
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Occasionally they'll have like a half an hour of fun of doing something that a five year
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old might do.
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And then we have running mafia previous years, it would take people of all ages essentially.
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That's fun.
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But you know, mostly they're doing different things, right?
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And so there's a period of time when they're transitioning from what interested them in
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their youth and what they're interested in as teens.
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As they start to direct themselves more towards the adult world, that's a very natural process
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and boredom seems to be that switch that happens when, you know, like it's almost like pausing
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the brain for a while, while everything's kind of reoriented and better directed.
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So that's kind of the role of it.
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And it's something that we treat as, you know, very important, very sort of sacred not to
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interfere with.
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Being bored can be a very unpleasant feeling and we don't try to ease that feeling.
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We think it's important for students to experience and deal with these things and we let them
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be essentially and you know, if they kind of complain about being bored, we kind of,
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you know, nod and try to sympathize, but you know, we're just kind of there, but we don't
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try to fill in the gaps because that's really for them to do.
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And you know, there are, you know, there's a variety of different responses students
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might employ dealing with boredom is, you know, like, is like, you know, kind of going
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back to the old stuff that they found interesting and then just having it double down that they're
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just not really interested in it, right?
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And so then eventually it motivates them to really figure out something that's more interesting
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to change.
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And it can be quite a long time.
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Sometimes it's so short we don't even notice it and other times, you know, it might be
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a whole year for somebody and you know, there's a certain point when we, you know, might want
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to just check in or whatever, make sure things are okay, but you know, for the most part,
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it's a natural process and it's almost like they're an entirely different person after
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the end of it.
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I mean, they're not, but they, you know, like their interests, I should say, it's like,
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you know, like it's just a bright transition point.
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So that is sort of what goes on with boredom at this school.
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We think it's a wonderful thing.
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We try to avoid any notions that people ought to be busy because we think it undercuts that
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beautiful state of boredom.
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It's a natural state that the body has natural kind of notions to get past doesn't really
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need our help.
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The world is a fascinating place.
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I can literally sit here and be fascinated by everything around me for hours on end.
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I don't need anything.
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In fact, it's a wonderful way of clearing the mind is just doing that, right?
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It's just, it's just, uh, really, um, you know, the, the, the go go goodness of our
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current age, you know, there's something to be said for a slow paced moment, right?
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Um, and it's refreshing and revitalizing and, uh, we cherish that.
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And I hope our students do too.
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Um, but, uh, I bet if it's, if there's one thing that they kind of do get when they're
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kind of aggravated and like, or, um, I bet it has a lot to do with boredom, um, could
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be friends conflict, but it could also just, you know, be boredom.
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Like they, they, you know, there's a desire to be told what to do, be put on a mission
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or something, or, you know, I got to do this or that, um, cause it's, it's nice to have
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that kind of direction, but, um, yeah, if they don't get told that, then they figure
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it out themselves.
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Uh, something we firmly believe around here and, um, we try to communicate that to students
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in the general, not in the specific time of when they are feeling bored because that just
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is annoying, but, you know, we try to make it kind of known in the ether, um, if you
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will.
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And, um, I'd like to think that it helps people appreciate that state.
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I don't know if anyone can truly enjoy being bored, um, and I think I do, but, um, you
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know, it's like, that's me like 40 years later.
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I really seem to drone it on and on.
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Uh, I thought I'd have a shorter podcast than the first version, but nope, almost the same
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exact time.
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Uh, the first one was eight minutes and 32 seconds.
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And as I speak this, it is eight 22.
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So, um, guess I will see you when I see you.
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Have a good one and bye bye.