One day, while I (Dr. Mezouar Mohammed Said) was standing explaining the lesson to the students in the first-grade class, where the oldest among them is no more than seven years old, a girl approached me, clearly upset by one of her classmates, asking to whisper in my ear. Without thinking, I listened to her attentively, and she told me that the boy had said to her, "When I grow up, I will marry you!"
I felt a deep anger and shouted at that boy and the rest of the class, saying, "You must respect your classmates, we must respect everyone... etc." But the matter didn't end there. Despite separating the girl from the boy, by placing her on one side of the classroom and keeping him at the far end, he still didn't miss any opportunity to bother her, whether by hitting her, insulting her, or in some cases, pushing her during recess. This led me to investigate this issue, as it was expected that first-grade children are still in a "latent" state, to use Freud's term, and these behaviors seemed like anomalies.
It is early adolescence, according to research by experts in educational psychology, which typically occurs between the ages of 10 to 13. However, what I observe among students, both in the classroom and during recess in the school yard, indicates that the age range for early adolescence has expanded. Instead of starting at age 10, as the researchers had established through studies in the 1970s, it now begins much earlier in the 21st century. This period can now start as early as the age of five... Yes, five, for many reasons.
The influence of digital technology, especially the uncontrolled access children have in some countries—such as in Algeria—has led to the development of their cognitive skills in a way that is neither rational nor acceptable. From a positive perspective, the generation that follows the letter "Z" generation will likely be the most intellectually advanced and psychologically prepared for adulthood and maturity. The period of youth is shrinking, and adolescence is expanding, making their intelligence increase rapidly. At times, I have witnessed a student from this generation, who was still in the fourth grade, being much smarter than one of my fellow teachers—despite the fact that this teacher had decades of experience. In my personal experience, I have seen fifth-grade students in one of my classes whose intelligence surpassed that of the school principal and even the educational inspector, and their intelligence approached my own. Had I not kept up with changes and continuously read up on new developments, many of these students would have easily surpassed my intelligence.
The generations I teach will be much smarter than our generation, especially the females. However, this brings me back to the negative side of the phenomenon of the early onset of adolescence at the expense of the latent period in the learning child. This phenomenon results in many teachers not recognizing the new type of students they are dealing with. Most of these teachers, including the principal and even the educational inspector, continue to approach students in the old way. This is where all the problems arise, leading to conflicts instead of learning, which often culminate in clashes between the educator and the students, despite their diverse backgrounds.