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As a servant in one of the high school Sunday school classes, I find difficulty in applying what the youth want to hear as a lesson.  I was talking to a few of them who said we just want to talk about recent subjects and never to speak about any of the saints as this shuts us off. Am I obliged to do this just to keep them coming to class?

It is important to take their feedback as a positive gesture and to appreciate them sharing their honest preferences with you because it implies that they feel comfortable with you.

Many Sunday school teachers are very dedicated servants, but most have not been raised in the western culture. Unless they have had some training or exposure to the western style of delivering a presentation, many resort to the common approach used in Egypt or when they were youth, which is often passive learning.

This means an instructor presents material and the students are expected to absorb it. However, the western culture uses more interactive models. It is important for students at this age to be able to connect what they are learning to their own life experiences.

To be able to appreciate their cognitive, social, and moral development, Sunday school servants ought to understand their students' developmental stages, challenges, and abilities. From a social perspective according to Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development, identity is an important aspect for teenagers at the stage. Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development focuses on adolescents at the conventional level being concerned about rules in the broader society.

According to Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory, adolescents beginning at around 11 years into adulthood to develop the ability to think in abstract concepts. Knowing about these stages, even briefly, can help you prepare your lessons to be able to reach your students more effectively.

Any lesson in the Holy Bible or in the Synaxarium is still applicable today. For example, most teenagers are aware of bullying, whether it has occurred on a personal level or to friends. Is the persecution of Christians in any century or era not also a form of bullying?

Thus, invite yourself into their world and take with you the essence of the lesson so that they can see that there is a time to be like Esther, Joshua, St. Abanoub, St. Katherine, St Cosmos & St. Damian, St. Joseph, whether young or old, and many more like these role models. Do not only focus on the person, but on the
specific trait that they possess: honesty, wisdom, perseverance, etc.
High school students tend to be enamored by physical beauty and bodily strength. That is why they become fans of celebrities and athletes. These become their heroes although they sometimes send amoral messages, use profanity, experiment with drugs, have issues with the law, engage in domestic violence, etc.

Once you are in the students' world, not passing judgments on their preferences, it will be easier for you to present your lesson. Otherwise, they are hearing about emperors and magicians, and they do not know of any, or they hear about extreme ascetics eating a handful of lentils throughout the year, and these students can barely go from lunch to dinner without several snacks in between meals.

Let your starting place be where they are most comfortable, then, bring them into a different reality where they can connect to the focus of the lesson. Thus, Sunday school servants ought to equip themselves with more training in this ministry.

Having said that, first and foremost, you must pray for your Sunday school students as you do or would do for your own children and family. Serve them with love and patience and enjoy their company.