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My experience may have been even worse, as I was only slightly older than my students
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It is my experience that kids do NOT like authority figures that are the same age, or god forbid, younger, than them
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I've been doing tutoring as a job or as volunteer work for six years now and I have discovered that (around these parts anyway) the age of the kid matters more than my age.
For these past six years it's been the same- kids 7 and under do what I tell them, kids 8-10 need to be told more than once, kids 11-13 are nearly impossible to deal with, kids 14-15 are similar to 8-10 years olds, and kids 16 and older do what I tell them (just like kids 7 and under).
I know it seems weird but that's how it has always been for me. 11-13 year olds are always the worst but once they get old enough they don't mind if you're close to their age as long as you aren't a jerk or something. My friends that are around my age do what I tell them much quicker than the junior high students I tutor.