Since the 1904 publication of Psychologist Stanley Hall’s work, Adolescence, American society has also increasingly believed that the teenage rebellion it saw breaking out in the wake of increased immigration was a natural expression of an undeveloped brain.
Teenage rebellion. The two words fit together so well, they are almost synonymous. But should they be? Must they be? How old were Joseph and Mary? By all accounts, they were young teenagers. Jesus’ disciples were likely teenagers. But of course, the word did not exist at the time.
And if this is an inevitable part of growing up, why is it such a uniquely western phenomenon, that we seem to export so freely to other cultures? We know from other research that the brain is shaped by experience. That is why educated parents spend so much money on infant development toys. It also a question which lies at the heart of the article, The Myth of the Teen Brain by Robert Epstein:
We blame teen turmoil on immature brains. But did the brains cause the turmoil, or did the turmoil shape the brain?
I have always thought the latter. The entire article is well worth reading, but think about the socialization issue as you read this excerpt:
My own recent research, viewed in combination with many other studies from anthropology, psychology, sociology, history and other disciplines, suggest the turmoil we see among teens in the U.S. is the result of what I call “artificial extension of childhood” past puberty. Over the past century, we have increasingly infantilized our young, treating older and older people as children while also isolating them from adults. Laws have restricted their behavior. Surveys I have conducted show that teens in the US are subjected to more than 10 times as many restrictions as are mainstream adults, twice as many restrictions as active-duty US Marines, and even twice as many restrictions as incarcerated felons. And research I conducted with Diane Dumas as part of her dissertation research at the California School of Professional Psychology shows a positive correlation between the extent to which teens are infantilized and the extent to which they display signs of psychopathology.
As Epstein points out, through most of history, teens were not trying to break away from adults; rather they were learning to become adults. At their father’s side. At their mother’s side. As an apprentice. Modern education seems to have had the opposite effect on our young people. Yet society is increasingly concerned about those of us who opt out of the system and choose another path with our children, teaching them to be adults rather than forcing them to remain children.
Just out of curiosity, how do you help your teens learn to become adults rather than rebel? I’m still several years away, but am curious how others have handled these years.
Also commenting:
The Care and Feeding of Teenagers
Serious Learning (I believe on the essay, Let’s Abolish High School)
Tangentially related: an entry from Susan Wise Bauer
Related Tags: homeschooling, education, socialization, Epstein, Robert Epstein
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I think teen rebellion is caused by the influence of their fellow students. Some teenagers don’t have the same maturity with others. The influence of their fellow students forces them to change their level of maturity and deprive themselves of the time which is supposed to be for their level of maturity.
Artificial extension of puberty aka the relatively new term adolescence has also been written about by John Taylor Gatto (The Underground History of American Education).
Long ago (or maybe not so long ago), kids were considered full adults even earlier than age 13. History also shows us that different cultures and religions sent kids out on “soul quests” or other adventures that sent them out into the world and made them become independent. Even religious ceremonies such as Bar/Bat Mitzvah hold meaning that the child becomes a full fledged adult in the eyes of its community.
I think teens rebel because they aren’t given the opportunity to become individuals until 18 and sometimes even 21 (legally speaking).
It also doesn’t help that the environment of government schools encourage the notion (in subtle ways) that parents are the enemy.
Yes, teenagers are considered adults in much of the world…and were hear at the time of the Revolutionary War. I don’t think that started changing until the 1800s. The first occurrence of the word is in 1818, at least, and I would guess that is when it slowly started.
I knew Gatto had said something similar…it has been awhile. I always enjoy a good article that confirms what we already knew!
I think it also has a lot to do with attachment, which I may take up again later. The symptoms are the same, anyway. Public education, particularly coupled with daycare and excessive activities outside the home, are inducing attachment disorders on wide segments of the population.
Thanks for your post. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Maya & Miguel, a show on PBS in the afternoons — http://pbskidsgo.org/mayaandmiguel — that emphasizes cultural diversity and language learning but I’m reaching out to talk to parents about the program as part of a marketing project I’m working on with Scholastic.
I found your post and thought I’d reach out to say hello and ask if you’d like to receive a free Maya & Miguel DVD. If you’d like to receive the DVD just email me at Kerri at boldmouth.com with your address and I’ll have it shipped it out to you.
If you do choose to blog about Maya & Miguel show or episodes on the DVD, please make it clear how you received the information. Our goal is to be open and honest with everyone we reach.
Kerri Roberts, BoldMouth
I agree. Children in different cultures are considered an adult at different ages. I guess the word teen doens’t apply to some because they still think of them as children.
Actually, they more likely think of them as adults.
They are given the basic rights and responsibilities of other adults in the community, or are at least more definitively placed on the path.
“artificial extension of childhood” - I’m kinda thinking our modern universities do this, too.
Adolescence is absolutely a modern construct. However, apprentices rebelled as well– remember Benjamin Franklin ran away from his brother.
Adolescence has been extended into the midtwenties in the last few years. Many young adults don’t feel the need to be self-supporting until a few years after college.
When I taught middle school, the message repeatedly reinforced was that students couldn’t be held accountable for any of their actions. This at the age when children in many other cultures go through rites of passage into adulthood. They aren’t responsible becuase we don’t allow them be.
Of course, life spans have dramatically increased. Taking your Mary and Joseph example, it is usually believed that Joseph was older than Mary, as was common in that culture and era. Nonetheless, Mary was probably between the ages of 13 and 17. They could hope to live to be about 45, on average, so I wonder if the extension of adolescence is in any way shaped by this biological change in life expectancy.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I do think life expectancy might have had something to do with it…and just good old fashioned necessity.
Children in general were looked on very differently…often more as “little adults” than as children. And as soon as they were able, they were expected to contribute to the running of the household and farm out of necessity. Few could afford the luxury of treating their able bodied teenaged children like children, freed from responsibility. That comes with wealth, I think.
Apprentices certainly rebelled, but it wasn’t viewed the same way. Adults walk out on their jobs and their families today, but that isn’t viewed as a normal part of growing up.
I think the perception that rebellion is normal in the teen absolves him/her from some responsibility, thus making it more likely.
But there is another aspect to this I’ll be discussing later. I need to track down the book I read a couple years ago, first, though.
I think teenagers are just misunderstood. Most parents don’t understand this part of life probably because situations of the past are entirely different compared today.
I’ve been reading a lot about education because I’m a mother and married to a psychologist. In an old Dutch book I found a description of teen rebellion not described as rebellion but rather as a clash between the drive to be creative and the existent culture. I think this is very interesting. As often, this was not ellaborated in the booklet which was an overview. I have some success with scaffolding activities, both on cognitive and creative fields - but also through doing stuff like painting a door, assembling a new chair, complicated travels (and the related problems have to be solved by the child). It is but one of the threads of my blog.
I think teen rebellion is a way to vent the necessary seperation from their parents. They need to know themselves whether they can “survive” in the real world or not. How are they to know what is going to work for them without trying it first? Everyone learns from their mistakes…who better to learn from then the person they understand most…themselves.