Advances i n Understanding the Adolescent
1 O _ 1 1 Compiled by the Home and School Council of Great Britain, 15 Endsleigh Street, London, W.C.I. Preface by Dr Hamilton Pearson. Price 1/
Fifteen well-known experts have contributed to this symposium. Some of the articles and summaries from Study Circles have already been published in Home and School, but the whole has been enlarged and revised to form a complete volume.
Each Contributor takes the reader to a different window where they may watch the adolescent acting and reacting on the world around him. Different aspects are discussed, but as Dr Hamilton Pearson explains, the adolescent is not a collection of aspects, but an individual who is concerned in translating his childish experiences into adult concepts.
To avoid giving the reader a series of isolated descriptions, there is an excellent summary by Mr. Lyward, the Director of Finchden Manor Clinic and School. Mr. Lyward likens development to the swing of a pendulum, the emotional strivings giving the impetus to the swing. When the emotions act in conflict instead of alternating forces there will be tension and the rhythm will be upset, giving rise to the problems taken in detail in the preceding chapters.
In the foreword by Dr MacCaJman, the whole problem is reviewed from an unbiased viewpoint. One fact often forgotten is recalled, that the customs and manners which the youth accepts as a matter of course are very different from those which influenced his parents. The different standard affects the adolescent’s attitude to his home, his recreations and his choice of work.
Mrs. Bremmer who writes ” On being a parent ” concludes with the quotation, ” Yon may strive to be like them, but seek not to make thc7n like you, for life goes not backward nor tarries zvith yesterday”. This advice should be taken carefully, the parent who strives to be similar, is often roused by the unconscious jealousy of the adult for the powers that the youth possesses.
Air. Lee-Browne, the Headmaster of Rendcomb College, Cirencester, has given valuable advice on the necessity of judicious guidance without irritating supervision during leisure periods. He stresses the importance of providing the right opportunities and freedom to indulge in healthy recreation. There is only a short reference to the value of club and group activities where boy and girl can satisfy the craving for companionship and can find expression of unselfish ideals in the responsibility of others.
Mr. Nicory, from the Physicotherapy Department of St. Thomas’s Hospital contributes his views on the health needs of adolescence. Those who are acquainted with modern ideas on Physical Education would ask for better training than that which he designates as “physical jerks”. Physical training teachers agree that the fundamental emotional activities of this period are essentially creative, and these energies find satisfaction in rhythmical and harmonious movements.
After much hesitation, we are told, was the chapter on religion included. Those who think that a knowledge of and right adjustment to God will profoundly influence spiritual and moral attitudes later in life, will be grateful to Dr Leonard Browne and to Mr. Roberts for their thoughtful and sympathetic contribution to this problem. There is general agreement with Dr. Emanuel Miller that the difficulties and fears of early childhood are revived and relived on a larger scale during the stress of adolescence. For this reason prospective parents and those who care for little children should read this book. Others, who are concerned with the adolescent himself will find valuable help in the simple and clear advice given by each Contributor. G. H.
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