The
Case Against Adolescence Rediscovering
the adult in every teen
Brief
KOG Comment on the new book by Robert Epstein, Ph.D. by
Donald J. Asbridge, Ed.S., KOG Editor
Q: How easy
can you waste seven years of your life? A: As easy
as you can proceed through middle school and high school!
Here's something
that apparently few want to think about... the fact that adolescence has
been invented relatively recently (in about the last hundred years or so).
Before you get too upset and fire off an angry response via e-mail, just
remember this isn't something I -- or the author -- thought up one night
at midnight -- it's something we all learned in PSY 205, Developmental
Psychology. Remember?
Robert Epstein, Ph.D.,
past editor of Psychology Today, wrote a book that won't change
anything because people, including social scientists, will still believe
what they want to believe. Hey, there's a lot of money to be made
off of young adults aged 11-18, eh? We don't want to think about
things such as rights, choices, and decisions for this population, right?
Not when we can keep them under our control and in our system for another
seven years, eh?
Described by one
commenter reviewing the book as the "infantization" of American children,
this human-only phenomenon continues to occur.
"That
is the way things are in most species."
Hair, 60's
The horror. How
horrible it is to let a fourteen year-old actually think for himself or
herself? To make choices? To have rights? The horror.
It's okay to try
them as adults in a court of law... just don't let them be adults.
I could go on but
to no avail. I've had this conversation before. I guess we'll
have to just keep treating 16 year olds as if they are 5 (think of all
the money that can be made as long as we keep forcing them to attend school,
do their homework, dress appropriately, tuck in their shirts, behave, not
chew gum, sit quietly, etc. -- and then get them into a lifetime of meds
if they are "defiant") -- just don't be surprised when they, um, get mad...
HERE'S
WHY MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION DOESN'T WORK
Quote
of the Month Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
Teacher at
the January IEP meeting:
"I'm
a teacher! I don't have time to look for the positives!"
What can I say?
TOO
LATE NOW!
We
Had Our Chance... Donald
J. Asbridge, KOG Editor
I've been pleading
and begging for all of us in our field to consider a revolution for the
past five or more years. I'm sorry to announce that the plea is now
for naught. We are now firmly entrenched in a new period of evolution.
We'll see where it takes us... RtI, forced behavioral compliance, mandated
behaviorism, M&Ms, the DSM, meds, anger management, out with the normal
curve, interventions based on punishment and control, IDEIA, NCLB, all
led by BS-level mental health workers...
x
Don't say I didn't
try to warn you... you can count me out in.
RESEARCH-BASED
INTERVENTIONS
There now exist many
research-based
interventions, but is there any research indicating that research-based
interventions are actually superior to the educational strategies utilized
for the past thousand years in education? If so, please submit that
reserach
to the KOG. There is a big difference between "modern
research"
and the scientific method.
KASP
MEMBERSHIP INFO...
KASP
membership!!! For information
regarding 2007/08 KASP membership, contact Traci Taber Rivas directly at:
rivast@gfusd.k12.ca.us
Hi all,
I have nothing to say this month. School psychologists continue to
diagnose ADHD, autism, autistic-like, bipolar, and a myriad of other DSM-IV
conditions as if they were psychiatrists! Gee whiz. Nothing
else really needs to be said.
Miss Diagnosis
Dear KOG Editor,
Is KASP holding any events?
Signed, "Observer"
Dear Observer,
Yes...
check out the events page.
Signed, KOG Editor
NOTES
& DISCLAIMERS:
Any
opinions expressed in the KOG are opinions only and are not necessarily
approved or supported by the KASP organization or anyone else, including
the KOG Editor. On the other hand, any facts expressed or implied
are indeed, facts. Just as is true for everything else in this world,
you get to decide what is opinion, what is fact, and what is research based,
and if and how they may or may not all go together. Please note that
just because something is research based doesn't necessarily insure that
it will work for students; and not everything that works for students
is research based. Some opinions are facts and research based.
Some opinions are not facts, yet are still research based. Just because
something is research based doesn't necessarily make it a fact, or ethical
(like NCLB or DIBELS, for example). There is a difference between
scientific approaches, research based practices, and data-driven strategies.
Just because something is statistically significant doesn't mean it's a
fact; remember, we are in the soft sciences. Some facts are facts
for some but not facts for others; the same concept holds true for opinions
and research. The same can be said for humor, satire, parody, and
serious notes. Some opinions are just opinions. However, one
thing is always certain...
