Escape Adolescence

Teenagers today are in crisis. Maybe it's because our whole culture is in a crisis of upheaval and ground-shifting change.

Philip Zimbardo, author of the famously disturbing Stanford prison experiment, and Nikita Duncan have written a short analysis of one facet of this crisis or revolution or whatever you want to call it: the Demise of Guys. I have written a short article/book review of the Demise of Guys, with added thoughts.

The article is also the maiden post of the new website I've launched, EscapeAdolescence.com and its companion Facebook page. I plan to use the site to explore the idea that adolescence is a modern, unnecessary phenomena. I follow a few bold thinkers in this, most importantly John Taylor Gatto and psychologist Dr. Robert Epstein. I hope the site will be helpful to teens who know there's something more, and to those who teach, parent, and work with them.



    

Why I do what I do

Teenagers today (as they always have been) are infused with tremendous creative energy and unique potential. Too often they underestimated, undervalued, and stymied by the restrictions we place on them--restrictions on how they will learn, whether they can work, and more. We say their brains aren't developed. We say they are irresponsible. We can't see that is it our culture, our restrictions that are holding them back.

But the world is changing. The world wide web is breaking down barriers to a burgeoning array of educational and vocational options--some that have never existed before, others that used to exist, but had been closed off. With the internet, a teenager can, once again, chart her own course in education and career, learn what he wants (for free), start a real, profitable business, publish a book, found an international organization, or change the world.

As a parent, high school teacher, and owner of a tutor referral service, I have seen the potential of young people. I believe this potential will bloom in the billowing new world the web is inflating.

I want to be a spark. I want to be fuel for the fires of the young people in my life.

That's why I do what I do.

That's why I wrote my little book. (Get if free here.)