Did 20th century American culture create a privileged underclass of adult children? Certainly there are many who fall into this category. Do we do our children a huge disservice by coddling them through adolescence? The 20th century began a time when teen-agers were expected to become useful and productive from late childhood. Partly as a reaction to 19th century child labor atrocities, we invented an extended childhood that lasted up through 16 years. That time has grown to 21 years or more with the expectation of a college education for everyone.
Admittedly, in most cases this time is not wasted and young people gradually develop a sense of responsibility and desire for productivity. For some though, it can be a time of extended boredom. Some are showered with money and gifts and great lengths are taken to protect them from reality. Our education system tends to be disconnected from reality in many cases.
Even though most "yoots" (re Joe Pesci's hilarious "Cousin Vinny" character) become productive to society and do not become burdens on the state or worse, does this extended childhood contribute to a "do the minimum" attitude? Why do many extremely successful individuals come from very challenging circumstances? Very challenging early circumstances seems to produce either a strong desire to succeed or the opposite extreme of giving up. The extended childhood to which most of our yoots are subjected may be more likely to produce mediocrity than one extreme or the other.
What is the quality we need to engender that is caused neither by too much coddling or too much unfortunate circumstance? We need our yoots to want to make a difference in the world. We need them to engage at an early age. We need their young fresh minds to be applied to constructive thinking and doing rather than killing time with the latest video game.
How can we help make this happen?
