October 1972November 1972
December 1972| October 1972 |
Home
Newsletters
November 1972 | December 1972 |
Report on... The Youth Mystique
The "Youth Mystique" panel was a program I wish every parent could have attended. The viewpoints expressed by the panelists were gained through years of experience in working with youth; and gave an uneasy view of the effects our modern society is having on many young people. I will include some of the points the speaker; made that I found most interesting. Those Leaguers who are interest in school curriculum will find some food for thought in some of the remarks. Dr. Fisher was extremely concerned about splintered families and the lack of a value system, or conflicting value systems, children to follow. This lack of direction can lead to the mindless following of any leader who satisfies the need for some kind of emotional ties, such as the case of the young girls who followed Charles Manson in murdering several people. He filled a void in their lives and gave direction to them. The lack of a value system can lead to a situation where instead of a person asking "why kill?" he asks "Why not kill?" Another problem adolescents have is the inability to grow up. Dr Fisher asked why a child who has all the freedoms of an adult with none of the responsibilities would want to grow up. It was too good a deal and he wouldn't want to either if he were in their shoes. He finds that 20 many young people have no knowledge of the past, care little about the: future and live solely for the present, and this is reflected in their behavior. He feel: that we must have links with the past to develop a proper perspective. He also found that young people were very disenchanted with trying to work for change inside the system. (Dr. Fisher was very pessimistic about it, also Ladies.) He felt that most decisions in government were made with, very few human values being considered. He said things were in a pretty bad state of affairs when one local legislator went so far as to state that the legislature should be disbanded. Youth also tends to want things to change immediately and has no patience with a long drawn-out process. He felt many young people withdrew because of these reasons, and most will eventually become members of the "silent majority". He condemned this group as being more dangerous than the most radical revolutionaries. Mrs. Campbell was the next speaker and she was very worried over the effects of broken homes, urban living, and segregation by age which are now all common in American life. She feels that many of us are leaving a vacuum in the lives of our children. Children long for the closeness- of the extended family relationships which we no longer have due to the mobility of our society. There is little contact between relatives nowadays, and she feels that this type of life is largely gone for good from the American scene. Mrs. Campbell was very much against the separation and segregation of activities based on age. Families should do more together and not shunt youngsters aside to do "their thing" while the adults are busy doing theirs. The need for good day care was emphasized, but she stressed that infants and young children need more than good bodily care. Without proper loving and cuddling at a very early age, children are warped so badly it is very hard to ever undo the harm. She said, in her experience, most of the children who were in trouble had been shunted from pillar to post in their early years. Dr. Weaver emphasized the need for a "mothering" person for an infant (not necessarily the mother) because this sets the stage for a feeling of warmth, religion or a feeling of oneness with the universe. Since American life has changed so much in recent years, and the extended family is almost a thing of the past, the community has to take the place of this family relationship. He thought that the Kibbutzim in Israel were a good example of how this could be done. Dr. Weaver also stressed the need of very young children to be exposed to music and to things they can manipulate with their hands. Also colors are important to them, and the use of crayons or other material is so good to let them be creative. He stated that most adults are like overgrown adolescents, and asked how many adults will stand by their convictions when pressured by their peer group. In order to grow into responsible adults, children need a sense of morality, but not necessarily the status quo. Without a sense of direction youth will
follow a Timothy Leary of Charles Manson because there is nothing else. The family, schools and community must all provide these needs if we are to keep more and more young people from following the path of least resistance which so often ends in drug abuse or worse.
|
| October 1972 | Top Home Newsletters | December 1972 |
