The One Question That Can Change a Teen’s Life… and Their Future
If you spend time with teenagers, you know their lives move fast. One day they seem confident and sure of themselves, and the next they feel lost or discouraged. Adults often jump in with advice or rules, but Dr. Peter Benson argues that we are missing the most important question of all.
In his TEDx talk, he explains that young people are not empty vessels waiting for adults to fill them with information. They are fires waiting to be lit. Inside every teen is something powerful, something joyful, something that gives their life energy and direction. Benson calls this their spark.
A spark is the thing that makes a young person feel most alive. It could be a talent like dance or art, a commitment like caring for the environment, or a quality like empathy. In studies with thousands of middle and high school students, Benson found that every single teen understands the idea of spark. Most can name at least one. But almost all say the same heartbreaking thing:
