Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
thesocietypages.org
Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
1–10 of 110 posts
Re: Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
#2I was surprised when I learned that adolescence was first described in the early 20th century. That was around the same time children stopped regularly working with their parents in the family business/farm. As a society, parents have abdicated the "final transision" to adulthood to the school systems, but that isn't working, so kids have no clear path to "adulthood" and, instead, wander aimlessly.
Personally, I think (and have read others who agree, sorry, no references available) that the fairly ubiquitous "coming of age" ceremony is very important. My oldest is 17 and we will be doing something this summer with my father (backpacking or the like) to celebrate his manhood. And, yes, we will even have a formal ceremony.
I'm always looking for good reading on this subject (truly guiding your kids to adulthood), so if you have any good pointers, send them on!
Re: Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
#3I was surprised when I learned that adolescence was first described in the early 20th century. That was around the same time children stopped regularly working with their parents in the family business/farm. As a society, parents have abdicated the "final transision" to adulthood to the school systems, but that isn't working, so kids have no clear path to "adulthood" and, instead, wander aimlessly. Personally, I thin…
To me, it seems pretty obvious that all the adolescent tribulations are a cry for independence. The individual feels they're already at the point where they can take off on their own, but everything else around them beats them back down.
Re: Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
#4The whole too-many-laws spin is sort of weird (I thought Ayn Rand, too much gumment, blah, blah, blah), but the invention of adolescence is pretty interesting.
Culturally, I think the ages that are marked hardest are 13 (Bar Mitzvah's and the like) and about 21. There is sort of intermediate transition time, when (basically) you can have children but you are still a junior member of our society.
I have tutored a fair number of teens, and my trick is to treat them like adults who are still practicing (and thus need some supervision). I am straight up about it too.
I think a lot of public school is geared toward getting working class people ready to be treated like children all their lives at the factory/ restaurant/ wherever. But usually the system wears them down, and they are docile alcoholics or tv addicts, afraid of their bosses and schoolteachers, with really low self esteem by the time they are 20 or so. So kids rebel or "have fun" (sex, drugs, rock and roll) while they can -- who wouldn't?
I went to a private school myself, where we were all getting ready to have self-driven, challlenging, interesting lives, and except for those of us with seriously screwed up family life (yes, I blame them ...), everybody had really good relationships with teachers and parents. It made total sense to us to study and learn to interact with older people. Who wouldn't?
Re: Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
#5I took a sociology class (briefly!) and one of the things that left a tremendous impression on me was how in some cultures, sexuality is completely different. That sexual drives are perhaps not universal, and that they can be very largely shaped by your culture.
If so, then something like adolescence could likely also be susceptible to such an effect.
Re: Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
#6A PhD who doesn't know that "data" is plural?
Re: Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
#7One wonders about the wisdom of treating any interaction with an adult as being tantamount to asking for sexual exploitation while simultaneously dumping kids in a youth culture which says that sex is the best thing that everyone except them is having.
I had a very fortunate upbringing in a lot of ways, but I think I talked to maybe three adults who were not parents, teachers, or family in an eight year period. That sort of warps one's perceptions on things.
Re: Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
#8I heard a longish npr interview with mr. Epstein, and found his theories to be so startlingly simple and obvious, so in line with all my experiences, that I was utterly confounded as to how nobody had mentioned it before.
Most compelling were his discussions about the -numerous- societies around the world who don't even have a word for "teen". That, and his observations regarding how young adults are segregated from society and are basically barred from work (excepting the most menial and unfulfilling), completely changed my conception of then entire issue.
If I could be bothered to read a book about parenting, it would be his.
Re: Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
#9John Taylor Gatto talks about this particular phenomena in his book "Weapons of Mass Instruction". Just looking at the way our school systems treats teens is enough to come to a full understanding of why teens develop so slowly. Most teens have no responsibility or any need for a real worry in their lives (beyond just living up to some societal expectations). Without actually being challenged as a complete human being (rather than just mentally in some small part of your brain), why would the brain need to develop?
I believe the most detrimental part is the fact that teens themselves often don't see themselves as "complete", "grown up", or as adults. This leads them to see and treat everything through a particular lens that they can excuse any behavior on. If from the start they were convinced they were adults (were complete and grown up), I believe they would take much more responsibility earlier on for their actions. I know I would've.
Re: Are "teens" born or made? An interesting twist.
#10Maybe the whole concept of "teens" became necessary when the society changed from agricultural to technological - there is just so much more to learn before you can be a "proper" adult... you could be a productive member of 1800's society without knowing how to read, write or do maths.
And the trend (more and more learning needed) will probably continue, judging from the stuff my teen kids are doing in their last 2 years of high school - things that I came across in my honours year of engineering (e.g. electronic data acquisition) are now taught in year 12. Wow.