Psychologist Robert Epstein talks about teenagers in other cultures, and how our society has artificially extended adolescence by treating them like small children well past age 13.
“We have completely isolated young people from adults and created a peer culture. We stick them in school and keep them from working in any meaningful way, and if they do something wrong we put them in a pen with other “children.” In most non-industrialized societies, young people are integrated into adult society as soon as they are capable, and there is no sign of teen turmoil. Many cultures do not even have a term for adolescence. But we not only created this stage of life: We declared it inevitable. In 1904, American psychologist G. Stanley Hall said it was programmed by evolution. He was wrong.”
Thank you for posting this… incredibly interesting. Reminds me of the scene in Almost Famous where his sister says to his mom, "You've robbed him of an adolescence!" and she replies, "adolescence is a marketing tool."
Very interesting and I really agree! I am sure I could have been a much more mature teenager if it had been expected of me, but of course all the restrictions and force and artificial consequences and everything else spoke the true "expectations" of high schoolers loud and clear. Unfortunately, most of us lived up to them, and from my POV, many haven't recovered yet, 10 years later!
Great article! SO want to pass this on to certain family members but I resisted. I agree with Simply Mother; 10 years later and the effects are still evident on the adults around me.
~Tara
What a great article!! Thanks for posting it. I'm sending it to some family members too!!
Dr Epstein is amazing! If you like him, you might also like Mike Males (http://youthfacts.org/). He's another pro-youth guy who debunks anti-teen myths.
"Adolescence is a marketing tool." Thank you! I felt that this "adolescence" crap was forced onto me. And I was right.
Thanks for posting this. I couldn't agree more. When I was traveling in India I met this 12 year old German boy who lived in a tree house he built with his father. It was 20 ft or so away from his parents front door and waaaaay up in the sky. He was pretty independent but of course had full access to the support of his parents. That really affirmed the way I think kids should be allowed their independence. I want my boys to be pretty self-sufficient by teenage-hood with the every present love and support of their family there when needed.