The cover feature in the Globe's Focus section this week is a kind of exercise in packing together everything that can go wrong with print feature writing in one convenient place. (It would be quite a good teaching tool.) Lack of self-awareness on the part of the reporter, selecting experts to fit the reporter's prejudice, no attempt to provide context, assuming a reader who is a version of the reporter, unstable, gassy generalizations, ('A world in decline?') the always-useful pseudo-trend, and - did I mention a lack of self-awareness?
" ... From a distance, the kids seem fresh and full of potential. They can't be anything like the ones who have spawned the parent-freaking headlines of the past few years: suicide, gangs, early sex, pregnancy, alienation, Littleton, Taber, Reena Virk and other random acts of violence from coast to coast.
"Or can they? Let's try talking to them.
"White coat bolts straight away, without making eye contact, and flees in horror to the embrace of the rest of her pack several metres away. Tan jacket stands her ground with the boys, a hostile look on her face. So what is it with teens today, they're asked.
"Delivered by one of the boys, the brush-off is immediate and absolute. "We're kind of busy," he says, with a hard look on his face. Then he turns his back.
"When Gordon Neufeld hears this story a few days later, he laughs. An experienced clinical psychologist in Vancouver, he recognizes the symptoms all too well. This is a sign of what he calls "peer-orientation" or "peer-attachment disorder," which he contends is a modern blight responsible for today's dangerous teen landscape and getting worse all the time.
The cover feature in the Globe's Focus section this week is a kind of exercise in packing together everything that can go wrong with print feature writing in one convenient place. (It would be quite a good teaching tool.) Lack of self-awareness on the part of the reporter, selecting experts to fit the reporter's prejudice, no attempt to provide context, assuming a reader who is a version of the reporter, unstable, gassy generalizations, ('A world in decline?') the always-useful pseudo-trend, and - did I mention a lack of self-awareness?
" ... From a distance, the kids seem fresh and full of potential. They can't be anything like the ones who have spawned the parent-freaking headlines of the past few years: suicide, gangs, early sex, pregnancy, alienation, Littleton, Taber, Reena Virk and other random acts of violence from coast to coast.
"Or can they? Let's try talking to them.
"White coat bolts straight away, without making eye contact, and flees in horror to the embrace of the rest of her pack several metres away. Tan jacket stands her ground with the boys, a hostile look on her face. So what is it with teens today, they're asked.
"Delivered by one of the boys, the brush-off is immediate and absolute. "We're kind of busy," he says, with a hard look on his face. Then he turns his back.
"When Gordon Neufeld hears this story a few days later, he laughs. An experienced clinical psychologist in Vancouver, he recognizes the symptoms all too well. This is a sign of what he calls "peer-orientation" or "peer-attachment disorder," which he contends is a modern blight responsible for today's dangerous teen landscape and getting worse all the time.
"... Three girls sit primly at a round table, feasting on McDonald's food and so less likely to bolt if approached. They look identical, right down to the silhouette, the colours, the long hair, the heavy eye liner and thick makeup. One has just put down her cellphone to launch into a tirade about her boyfriend.
"Perhaps they would like to offer their views on today's teens?
"One responds with a withering look. "It's not a good time right now," she says dismissively. The girl just off the phone doesn't miss a beat, as though grownups are invisible. "That speech I just gave," she tells her friends, gesturing to her cell, "he didn't hear a word. He hung up on me."
"To the authors of Hold On, that kids can behave this way illustrates abject failure for parenthood. But to U.S. researcher Judith Rich Harris, parenthood never had a chance -- it's been next to irrelevant all along.
Posted by Patrick at February 4, 2004 08:53 PM