Of Trashing Teens, The Impact of Generation Y, and Extraordinary Talents

For a very interesting take on the teenage years, head on over to PyschologyToday.com for a question and answer session with Psychologist Robert Epstein called Trashing Teens.

Hara Estroff Marano sets down the questions for Epstein, the author of the book, “The Case Against Adolescence.” Epstein argues that “teens are far more competent than we assume” and that “most of their problems stem from restrictions placed on them.” Epstein insists that adolescence has become an artificial extension of childhood but he is not suggesting that teens should have more freedom. Instead, Epstein states: “They already have too much freedom—they are free to spend, to be disrespectful, to stay out all night, to have sex and take drugs. But they’re not free to join the adult world, and that’s what needs to change.”

The Q & A also features a lengthy list of enacted laws that have impacted adolescence. Entitled “The Adolescent Squeeze,” the list focuses on the move towards compulsory education laws at the same time that legal restrictions regarding labor by young people came into effect. The list offers an especially tantalizing phrase regarding the process referring to these laws as “infantilizing adolescents.”

College Is Not for Everyone
A recent piece on TheAtlantic.Com offers the tale of a professor attempting to work with students who do not seem to have the capacity for the rigors of college. The provocative article, In the Basement of the Ivory Tower, has a sub-heading that matches our thoughts precisely. Notes sub-title, “The idea that a university education is for everyone is a destructive myth. An instructor at a ‘college of last resort’ explains why.” Written by Professor X, the article re-emphasizes a number of points we have made on this site, most recently in our series on the Netherlands and our view that America should take a thorough look at the Dutch who understand the importance of education yet recognize that other forms of education exist beyond the traditional college program.

Generation Y Transforming the Web
Another web article that will provoke the thought waves is at ReadWriteWeb.com. “Why Gen Y Is Going to Change the Web,” a piece written by Sarah Perez, takes a look at the most digitally active generation to date. The article spends no time trying to clean up the issue as to who technically constitutes Generation Y. Instead it goes on to review the values and mores of this age group. In explaining how this age group is different, the article stipulates that Generation Y is completely plugged in. They are a group of “web savvy multitaskers, able to watch TV, surf the web, listen to music, and talk or text on their phones, often performing several of these things at the same time.” For this generation the author notes that “TV isn’t king” and “They don’t care about your ad, they care what their friends think.” Adding to how this generation will change the world, Perez notes that “Work isn’t their whole world” but at the same time “They’re socially conscious.” Head on over to ReadWriteWeb.com to learn more about the plugged in generation that will transform the world wide web over the next few years.

College Prodigy
If you are looking to be inspired, head on over to MSNBC for an interesting story on ten year old Moshe Kai Cavalin. This story of a young boy, described as both precocious and shy, demonstrates why the American educational landscape must change and change dramatically. Cavalin is actually a college sophomore taking advanced mathematics, foreign languages and music. Demonstrating incredible humility as well as academic talents, the youngster states that he knows what his IQ is but “doesn’t like to discuss it.” He also insists that “other students can achieve his success if they study hard and stay focused on their work.”

There has never been any traditional public school in Cavalin’s young life. Just home schooling until he turned eight and entered college. At ten he now indicates that one of his primary interests is “wormholes,” the hypothetical scientific phenomenon that is based on Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. It is truly an amazing story about an equally amazing youngster.

An Extraordinary Memory
In one of the more interesting studies underway, we turn to CNN and an article titled “Man’s rare ability may unlock secret of memory.” It tells, in tantalizing tid bits, the story of a 51-year-old who is as extraordinary as 10-year-old Cavalin. Brad Williams, has an exceptionally remarkable memory, give him a date, any date, and he can tell you what he was doing that day as well as what important world events occurred that day. Williams has what is called hyperthymestic syndrome, the terminology coming from the Greek words for excessive (hyper) and remembering (thymesis).

Williams is reported one of only three people in the world identified with this level of autobiographical memory. In an effort to understand these individuals and why they are able to remember things so vividly, researchers at the University of California-Irvine have begun an extensive study into this rare syndrome.

Part of the research involves the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging to create three-dimensional pictures of the brain of each of these individuals. Williams did not appear to be a whole lot of help with his explanation of his amazing gift. When asked how he manages to recall such information so quickly Williams answered, “It’s just there.”

Generation Y photo by DeBaird.