I never gave much thought to this idea, but it has some merit. I had some interesting discussions this weekend with some peers about it. Many of them were steadfast advocates of a broad exposure of education.
Mr. Gingrich argues a the broad education system has had too high a cost:
The costs of this social experiment have been horrendous. For the poor who most need to make money, learn seriously, and accumulate resources, adolescence has helped crush their future. By trapping poor people in bad schools, with no work opportunities and no culture of responsibility, we have left them in poverty, in gangs, in drugs, and in irresponsible sexual activity. As a result, we have ruined several generations of poor people who might have made it if we had provided a different model of being young.I'm not really sure that I exactly have an opinion, but I found the article very interesting. I'd be curious to see others thoughts.
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I absolutely agree that adolescence is a failed experiment. It is a cultural anomaly. Hardly any other cultures besides those directly influenced by America has it. Part of this is because we are one of the first cultures in history to be wealthy enough to afford adolescence. In my opinion (even as one who loves and serves high schoolers), we have adults with stunted maturity because we cut them off from entering adult life when it was natural. We have people with all the biological, mental, and emotional functions of an adult but none of the responsibility of one.
While I agree with the problem that Newt points out (as others have before), I'm not sure he has nailed the solution. Certainly the education system needs to be changed. It is not helping things. What it should look like, I'm not sure. However, I think revising the education system without getting at the root issue will not help at all. I think at the heart of the problem of adolescence is the problem of families and parents. Parents have shifted their responsibility to develop, train, empower, and launch young people into mature adulthood. Over the course of the last 100 years, parents have shift responsibility for education, spiritual formation, skill training, moral development, and even health care on to various other organizations and professionals. Government schools and professional religious educators (i.e. youth leaders and Sunday School teachers) have taken the place of parents in these roles. This was not the case in the past. This is one of the factors that leads to what Chap Clark calls, "the systemic abandonment of youth."
Chap Clark's book, "Hurt" is one of the best treatments of this situation I have ever read. I think it should be required reading for every one who works with teenagers (and even 20-somethings).
Jeremy Pryor also addresses this issue (indirectly) when he discusses the shift in the philosophy/model of family from traditional cultures to American culture. I would recommend listening to his talk on this:
http://jeremypryor.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/restoring-families-as-multi-generational-teams-podcast-seattle-august-2008/
This article gives some more thoughts on the problem of adolescence:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20070302-000002.html
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