An Adolescent....oh for the days that were..../Lewis&Petrone

What I wonder, first of all, is if we don't overemphasize the ‘condition’ of an adolescent.   I know that there is great physical/physiological change taking place during this time in a life, but I also know that it is nothing that hasn’t happened to generations of kids since the beginning of the human race.  Do we need to create excuses and justifications for the hormonal uncertainty of these kids?   We know that life is changing for kids and that they will have different experiences at this time; we don’t need to create this as an opportunity for the kids to be irresponsible, off-task, etc….  WE just (‘just may be an extreme oversimplification here) need to “roll with the punches” and help them to “roll with the punches.”  To recognize moodiness and deal with it, to I do love that recognize and deal with fatigue, and attractions and all of that….

I am pleased that Lewis & Petrone focus on discourse.  I think that is what I believe that I encourage in my classroom, but it is not as easy as it first seems in a room full of 27-70 kids….

…furthermore, the idea of it being a social construct is valuable for me to think about since so much is different between my 12-year-old daughter and her cousin (who happens to be 2 months younger.)

LESKO”S ARGUMENT –

 …maintaining an expectant mode for teenagers that keeps them forever young and renders them as incomplete, incompetent , and in need of help (399).

She places the culpability upon the teachers it seems – and I wonder at this.  This feels, to me, to also be a social construct that we may not find in cultures outside that of a standard American community.  I don’t have the research on this, but I question if we find this in all cultures globally or if it is emerging in some of the faster ‘developing’ cultures. 

--- I don’t know if I would classify The Kite Runner  in that adolescent protagonist list per se.  That feels to be an oversimplification to me…

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“…adolescence as a time of significant identity formation and adolescence as a particularly dangerous time period in people’s lives” (401).

Wow…..I think that we, teachers, sometimes overstep our responsibilities in this time of identity formation and make or break a kid – academically, socially, etc….