Sunday, March 14, 2010

I've Been Quoted!

Once you've spilled a lot of e-ink, you begin noticing yourself popping up in very interesting places you never thought you'd be. Let me just say I'm flattered to have been quoted in the "review section" at the official site for Dr. Robert Epstein's new book, Teen 2.0: Saving our Children and Families from the Torture of Adolescence, from a post I made to this blog over two years ago concerning Epstein's research on the adolescent mind and an earlier edition. Since that time, I've kept a link to the Epstein-Dumas Test of Adultness up, which you can take online, because I find the research to be a fascinating glimpse behind the myth of adolescence.

Unlike many researchers writing about teenagers these days, Epstein uses the word "torture" to mean the forces that unnecessarily restrict and infantilize young people rather than using it to mean the old storm and stress model often used to justify more controls. Also unlike many of his contemporaries who focus on the differences between adults and adolescents, he's done a great deal to promote the message that they're really not all that much different and that most of the restrictions against them are not only culturally based and unnecessary, but in some cases can be dangerous to their development.

In anticipation of this book, it's also fascinating to peruse some of the reviewers also included on that page, particularly the words of Newt Gingrich, who has in the past come out in support of "ending" adolescence.

“Adolescence was invented in the nineteenth century to enable middle-class families to keep their children out of sweatshops. But it has degenerated into a process of enforced boredom and age segregation that has produced one of the most destructive social arrangements in human history..."

If you're unfamiliar with Epstein's work, I invite you to check out his website or view this blog post of mine. In the meantime, Teen 2.0 is set to be released on April 14, 2010, which happens to be National Youth Rights Day--talk about a fit scheduling.

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