Thousands of high school and college seniors are about to graduate and launch into the next season of their lives. Most of them are less prepared for that transition than they realize.
Regardless of how well they’ve done academically, most graduates today suffer from a condition called “artificial maturity.” Thousands of hours on the internet and social media have enabled them to accumulate a vast amount of information about the world, which gives them a false sense of maturity.
But since most of that information was not acquired through personal experience or responsibility, they actually lack the kind of authentic maturity that will enable them to deal with the relational challenges and setbacks of real life.
This is why over half of these graduates will either struggle at college or quit their first job after school and move back home with mom and dad.
My son, Jeff, who now serves as our ministry’s Director of Marketing and Training and a Certified RW Instructor, experienced many of these challenges when he left for college. He has described his journey, including his academic and relational disappointments, as well as God’s refining work in his life (especially with his mother!), in a new ebooklet entitled “Overcoming Artificial Maturity with Relational Wisdom.”
I encourage you to download this ebooklet and discuss it with any high school or college graduates you know, whether in your family, church youth group, or class at school. As Jeff writes to other young people at the end of his story,
“I encourage you not to wait as long as I did to pursue relational wisdom. Learn from my mistakes and spare yourself from the consequences of artificial immaturity. As Proverbs 4:7-8 promises, “Get wisdom…prize her highly, and she will exalt you.”
~ Ken Sande
A great graduation gift!
Reflection Questions:
- Do you think graduates today are more or less mature than a generation ago? Why?
- What impact do relationally immature graduates have on their parents?
- What are the some of the symptoms or consequences of relational immaturity in college or the workplace?
- What advantages do relationally mature graduates have at school? In their friendships? In their first jobs?
- If you had the choice of seeing your child graduate with top grades or excellent relational skills, which would you prefer? Why?
Permission to distribute: Please feel free to download, print, or electronically share this message in its entirety for non-commercial purposes with as many people as you like.
Copyright © 2018 Ken Sande
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