The religious education of adolescents, by Norman Richardson including material contained in a pamphlet entitled: The government of adolescent young people, prepared by William Byron Forbush and rev. by Mary E. Moxcey

Front matter

Book__ i H_5L___

Copyright N°

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT;

Introduction

In selecting and preparing the material for this little volume, the author has intentionally avoided the exclusively academic and scholastic point of view. The needs of parents, teachers and other adult leaders, who are facing practical problems, have been kept in mind. Indeed, many of the paragraphs were written for the express purpose of answering questions which had been asked by persons who were facing perplexing situations in their own homes or schools.

During the past three years, the author has delivered several short courses of lectures in conmunity schools of religious education and in summer schools on such subjects as : The Psychology of Adolescent Boyhood, The Religious Nurture of Adolescent Young People, The Psychology of Religion, and Principles and Methods of Recreational Leadership. As collateral reading in these courses, one monograph of a series of pamphlets formerly published by the American Institute of Child Life of Philadelphia: The Government of Adolescent Young People, prepared by William Byron Forbush, was used. The demand for it soon exhausted the third edition.

Numerous requests have been received for these lectures, made available in book form. During iv INTRODUCTION

the Summer School of the Canadian Young Men's Christian Associations held at Lake Couchiching in 1918, particularly, the Boys' Work Committee of the National Council together with representatives of several evangelical denominations strongly urged the immediate preparation of such a volume. It was pointed out that the material should be made available for the training of teachers and other workers in tjie Intermediate, Senior and Young Peoples' Departments of t^he church school as well as for boy workers in the Canadian Y. M. C. A.

The following chapters are the result of an effort to do three things. First, to gather together material for an introductory study of adolescence that will be helpful to teachers in church and public schools, leaders of recreational groups, parents and social workers. Second, to organize this material so that it will prove to be a serviceable text-book to be used in third year specialization teacher-training classes in community schools of religious education and in other study groups. Third, to inspire students and others with the conviction that they can perform a notable service for the Kingdom of God by guiding young people through the tumultuous years of adolescence.

In several instances the contents of the pam-

INTRODUCTION v

phlet: The Government of Adolescent Young People, after having been revised and enlarged by Mary E. Moxcey in the interest of adolescent girlhood, have been reorganized and included in the following chapters. The copyrights of the series of pamphlets to which it belonged were purchased for the Department of Religious Education of Boston University in the year 1917.

The writer wishes to express his deep conviction that a teacher or other adult leader who is responsible for the training of youth in any one of the three eras of adolescent unfolding should not confine his study to that particular era alone. In order to understand the majority of middle adolescent young people, it is absolutely necessary to have intelligent insight into the experiences and characteristics of normal later adolescence. Multitudes of boys and girls are socially and intellectually so precocious that at thirteen years of age, their interests are those that belong naturally, to middle adolescence. The spiritual life is unusually fluid during adolescent years. Charts and classifications are ruthlessly violated. A brief survey of the entire period is necessary before one is prepared to face the practical problems of any one era within the period.

The worker with adolescent young people should frequently remind himself of the fact that vi INTRODUCTION

his task is not to hurry them along as rapidly as possible toward maturity. Our whole nation is suffering from the results of the over-stimulation of its youth. A few may need to be stimulated. Multitudes need influences that will retard their unfolding. Help the child to maintain a normal rate of development. He needs, most of all, to live a whole life at each stage of his advancement. It is first the blade, then the ear, and finally the full corn in the ear. Too many boys and girls are growing ears when they should be perfecting blades.

In order to recognize these instances of precocity and of belated development, the adult leader or teacher must have intelligent familiarity with the normal experiences of the periods preceding and following the one to which his pupils naturally belong. The first step in the task of self -preparation to render efficient service for early, middle, or later adolescents is the careful study of the entire period of adolescence.

The author wishes to express his gratitude for the helpful suggestions and criticisms of the Rev. C. A. Myers, Rev. Frank H. Langford, Miss Mary E. Moxcey, Rev. James V. Thompson and Dr. Sidney A. Weston.

Norman E. Richardson*

Boston University, October 25, 1918.

Contents

PAGE

Chapter I. The Nature and Meaning of Adolescence 1

The period of adolescence. Spiritual versus mechanical methods of study. Adolescence and selfhood. The three epochs of development, early, middle, and later adolescence. Transition from childhood to youth; from youth to maturity. The fourfold challenge of adolescence. Some practical suggestions. Questions for study.

Chapter II. Physical Development .......... 18

The law of rhythm. Sex development. Need of objective interests and activities. Skill. Health habits. Physical growth during early adolescence. Development during middle adolescence. The later adolescent body. . Questions for study.

Chapter III. Mental Development 34

The parting of the ways, mental pitfalls of adolescence. How to control mental development. Keep open the channels of expression. Guard against over-stimulation. Mental benefits of a religious faith. Emotional changes. A multitude of interests. Management of the emotions. The culture of the will. Questions.

Chapter IV. Social Development 56

Childhood's Treasure House. Self -corrective experiences. Social development within the family.

vii viii CONTENTS

Social development through school experiences. The play group. Church school loyalty. Community loyalty. Social instincts. The friendship instinct. Moral awakening. Social management, "First loves," Co-operation. Questions.

Chapter V. Religion as a Mode of Control in Adolescent Conduct . 76

Control from without and from within. What is adolescent religion? Early adolescent religion. Middle adolescent religion. Its social aspects. Later adolescent religion. The fusing of patriotism and religion. Rationalizing one's religion. Questions.

Chapter VI. Ruling Motives 94

Pride. The heartening influence of appreciation. Dissatisfaction with the commonplace. Hero-worship. The girl's hero versus the boy % s hero. Fertilizing the imagination. Responsibility. A weekly allowance. The parent's gradual surrender of re^ sponsibility. The right to a wailing-post. Group loyalty. Chivalry. A life purpose. Combination of motives. Questions.

Chapter VII. The Adolescent Prodigal 114

u The prodigal. Juvenile delinquency. Types of offences. The age of delinquents. Their family and home conditions. School records of delinquents. Shall they be put to work? Shall we send him away to school? Shall we let him wander? Influences that will bring him home. Encouraging factors. Some practical suggestions. Results to be hoped for. Questions.

CONTENTS ix

Chapter VIII. Character Through Play In

terests and Activities 130

The educative value of play. Its positive nature. The stupidity of attempted guidance through repression. Group loyalty and team play. Social development through play. Nature of adolescent play. The ideal play program and organization for early adolescents. For middle adolescents. Play and recreation for later adolescent young people. Practical suggestions. Questions.

Chapter IX. Principles of Religious Education for Early Adolescence 149

The law of the expanding life. The law of transition. The law of responsibility for leisure-time activities. The law of the reading craze. The law of individual and group service. The law of the moral imagination. The law of conscience. The Jaw of repentance and confession. The law of church membership. The law of the fuller life. Questions.

Chapter X. Principles of Religious Education for Middle Adolescence 164

The law of the integrating personality. The law of a single loyalty. The law of conversion. The law of adolescent mysticism. The law of ardent, organized endeavor. The law of friendship and romance. The law of culture and restraint. The law of vocational specialization. The law of apprenticeship in leadership. The law of the sustained spiritual life. Questions.

x CONTENTS

Chapter XI. Principles of Religious Education for Later Adolescence 178

The law of a completed adolescence. The law of differentiation. The law of worthy motives in life's great decisions. The law of a changed environment. The law of institutional loyalty. The law of leadership. The law of heroic service. The law of specialized training. The law of rational supremacy. The law of a religious creed. Questions.

Chapter I The Nature And Meaning Of Ado- Lescence

Adolescence is that part of life which lies between childhood and adulthood. The first two dozen years of an individual's life are about equally divided between childhood and youth. Under most favorable conditions, the period of adolescence continues from the twelfth to the twentyfourth years. It includes the very heart of life. Childhood looks forward to it and prepares for it. From it adulthood takes many of its permanent and important characteristics. This is the time when "a little good will go farther for good and a little evil for evil, than any other time in life. *'

The Spiritual Versus the Mechanical Point of View

In dealing with actual young people, the teacher or leader should guard against the error of attributing to them, in a wholesale or arbitrary way, the characteristics which their years suggest. The rate of development differs with different individuals. Indeed, within the same individual, belated physical growth may be associated with mental precocity. Life is not wooden or mechan- 2 ical. It cannot be reduced to charts, tables, or fixed schedules. Each youth lives his own life, in his own way. He may or may not conform to what is considered normal or standard. His self-realization, not his conformity to a common standard or a chart, is the aim of education.

In the study of adolescence, the first requisite is the ability to think in these more spiritual, fluid terms. In order to put through successfully any system of training or program of instruction, it is necessary to know something besides the contents of the teacher's or leader's manual. Merely to spray young people with ideas regardless of what is going on in their minds or merely to enforce a system of training, no matter what happens to those who are supposed to be trained thereby, is to use the method of ignorance or stupidity.

It is one thing to teach a Bible lesson, but another thing to teach a boy. To operate a certain system of training may or may not result in the training of a particular girl. An intelligent appreciation of growing, expanding, developing youth should go hand in hand with a thorough grasp of the lesson or the program. The fact that a teacher has reduced to oral English all of the ideas contained in a given lesson is not a guarantee that those ideas will become controlling factors in the pupil's conduct.

OF ADOLESCENTS S

A careful study of adolescence from this spiritual point of view reveals the field wherein failures and successes actually take place. It helps the adult leader or teacher to appreciate the aim of a given system of training or of a series of lessons. It inspires confidence, stimulates originality, and makes independent action possible. It breaks the shackles of those who are slaves to the leader's manual. The one who understands life, as well as lessons, is more apt to proceed with unhesitating insight. He can make adaptations where they should be made. His work brings greater joy. He is able to measure what progress is being made. He catches the spirit of the scientist or adventurer. To one who appreciates it, adolescence is a great challenge. It is so plastic, so spiritual, so sacred that it is the very stuff, the raw material out of which the Kingdom of Heaven is made.

Adolescence and Selfhood

Adolescence is the period when selfhood unfolds. Youth is self-conscious. Physical changes, heightened power of sense perception, social sensitiveness, and rational activity all tend to stimulate self -awareness. Slowly through these years individuality takes on definiteness of form and character. Youth faces the inevitable responsibilities of self-control and self-direction, is forced to take a lively interest in the management of his own conduct.

Young people live their own lives. Outside interference is apt to be resented if it ignores this newly discovered and highly prized selfhood. The right to originate plans independently of others is cherished. To accept or to reject the judgment of parents and teachers is looked upon as youth's high privilege. Practical questions of membership in social groups, of vocation of friendship, of public opinion, of individual beliefs of leadership, of personal appearance, of sex, of ambition, now press for answers. All these emphasize self. For light and guidance, youth looks within to his own conscience as well as without to some external voice of authority. Unlike the dependent and receptive child, youth is independent and creative. His face is set toward his own alluring future.

Early, Middle and Later Adolescence

There are three distinct periods or epochs of development within this central span of life. They are known as early, middle and later adolescence. Under normal conditions, these periods include the years twelve to fourteen, fifteen to seventeen and eighteen to twenty-four, respectively. Unfortunately, the rate and the order of unfolding represented in this grouping of ye^rs is usually interfered with by conditions which are beyond the control of the youth himself. Years are not the true measure of life. Poverty, misfortune or a great calamity, such as war, is apt to abbreviate, otherwise modify, or even short-circuit entirely any one of these eras of development. Boys and girls generally grow old before their time. The majority of young people do not have a completed adolescence. Unfortunately, the maturing process which should proceed slowly and gradually during these years, is usually brought to an abrupt close. Leaders of middle adolescent boys are apt to have later adolescent problems to deal with. Leaders of middle adolescents should understand both early and later adolescence.

These three periods of development might be likened to the building of a ship. In the first stage, the parts are assembled and bound together in various ways. Then comes the trial trip when these parts are "worked in" and the mechanical adjustments necessary to avoid friction and to prevent permanent weakness are made. Finally comes the maiden voyage with its proud record and prophecy of the future. The distinctive marks of any particular ship cannot be known until she has tried herself out.

G THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

So it is with adolescence. First, the parts are assembled in rather irregular and hasty manner, then the critical period of integration takes place and this is followed by the measuring of one's strength and skill against the real economic and social opportunities of life. Thus, the boy becomes a man and the girl, a woman.

During early adolescence physical changes are most conspicuous. Middle adolescence is dominantly social. Later adolescence finds the rational faculties supreme. Social development proceeds throughout the three periods. Mental development culminates respectively in impulses, in sentiments, and in opinions. The three modes of control are first, public or gang opinion; second, the influence of friends; and third, the reasoned judgments of real leaders. Loyalty, during the years twelve, thirteen and fourteen, is centered upon home, school and Church. The years fifteen, sixteen and seventeen find these loyalties increasing in strength and to them is added loyalty to the community. During the immediately following years may come loyalty to a new home together with an increasingly intelligent devotion to religious, civic and possibly educational institutions.

The Transition from Childhood to Youth

Writing of the suddenness with which the transition is made from childhood to youth, Margaret Slattery describes a scene which took place in a school where she was teaching:

"She was a beautiful, well-developed girl of thirteen. Her bright, eager face with its changing expression, was a fascination at all times. It seemed unusually earnest and serious that particular morning as she stood waiting the opportunity to speak to me. She had asked to wait until the others had gone, and her manner as she hesitated even then to speak made me ask, 'Are you in trouble, Edith?'

"'No, not exactly trouble — I don't know whether we ought to ask you, but all of us girls think — well, we wish we could have a mirror in the lockerroom. Couldn't we? It's dreadful to go into school without knowing how your hair looks or anything. '

"I couldn't help laughing. Her manner was so tragic that the mirror seemed the most important thing in the educational system just then. I said I would see what could be done about it, and felt sure that what 'all the girls' wanted could be supplied. She thanked me heartily and when she entered her own room, nodded her head in answer to inquiring glances from the other girls,

"As I made a note of the request, I remembered the Edith of a year or more ago. Edith, whose mother found her a great trial; she didn't care how she looked! It was true. She wore her hat hanging down over her black braids, held on by the elastic band around her neck; she lost her ribbons continually, and never seemed to miss them. She was a good scholar, wide-awake, alert, always ready for the next thing. She loved to recite, and volunteered information generously. In games, she was the leader, and on the playground always unanimous choice for the coveted 'it' of the game. She was never in the least self-conscious, and, as her mother had said, how she looked never seemed to occur to her.

"And now, she came asking for a mirror. Her hair ribbons are always present and her hat securely fastened by hat-pins of hammered brass. She spends a good deal of time in school 'arranging' her hair. Sometimes spelling suffers, sometimes algebra. Before standing to recite, she carefully arranges her belt. Contrary to her previous custom, she rarely volunteers, although her scholarship is very good. If unable to give the correct answer, or when obliged to face the school, she blushes painfully. One day recently, when the class were reading 'As You Like It,' she sat with a dreamy look upon her sweet face, far, far away from the eighth-grade class-room; could not find her place when called upon to read, and although confused and ashamed, lost it again within ten minutes." (Margaret Slattery, "The Girl in Her Teens," pages 1, 2, 3.)

The Mother of Phillips Brooks, out of her own deep experience, once wrote:

"There is an age when it is not well to follow or question your boy too closely. Up to that time} you may carefully instruct and direct him, you are his best friend; he is never happy unless the story of the day has been told; you must hear about his friends, his school; all that interests him must be your interest. Suddenly there, confidences cease; the affectionate son becomes reserved and silent; he seeks the intimate friendship of other lads; he goes out; he is averse to telling where he is going or how long he will be gone; he comes and goes silently to his room.

"All this is a startling change to the mother, but it is also her opportunity to practice wisdom by loving and praying for and absolutely trusting her son. The faithful instruction and careful training during her early years, the son cannot forget; that is impossible. Therefore, trust not only your Heavenly Father, but your son. The period of which I speak appears to me to be one in which the boy dies and the man is born; his individuality rises up before him and he is dazed and almost overwhelmed by his first consciousness of himself. I have always believed that it was then that the Creator was speaking with my sons, and that it was good for their souls to be left alone with Him while I, their mother, stood trembling, praying and waiting, knowing that when the man was developed from the boy, I should have my sons again and there would be a deeper sympathy than ever between us. "

The transition from later adolescence to adulthood is greatly influenced by environment. The necessity of going to work, early marriage, or loss of parents, may plunge youth suddenly into the burden bearing of maturity. This fact is one of the tragedies of our civilization. Young people should take more time to mature mentally, socially and physically. The period of plasticity should be prolonged as far as possible. It takes time to find one's place in the social and economic world just as it takes time to discover oneself. In an age of high specialization, there is greater need of general preparation. Many a man has spent years regretting the fact that he might have had a better education or a broader outlook upon life. But he was in too great a hurry to take what he thought then was to be his place in the world.

President Butler's Summary

The most outstanding characteristics of the first and second periods of adolescent life are thus summed up by Nicholas Murray Butler:

' 'The marked characteristics of the pupil of secondary-school age are due to the fact that, as Rousseau puts it, we are born twice; the first time into existence, the second time into life; the first time as a member of the race, the second time as a member of the sex — in other words, they are due to the phenomena of adolescence. The physical and mental effects of this epoch in human life begin earlier and last longer than is sometimes supposed. They dominate the entire secondary-school period. Rapid growth and increase of nervous mental energy mark these years. Emotions, vague and disordered, displace the placidity of earlier likes. Ambitions, yearnings, desires are formulated crudely and for the first time. Introspection begins and a morbid self -consciousness is not infrequent. The future, hitherto almost unthought of, becomes of great interest and importance, and overshadows the present. Abnormally intense religious experiences and reflections are common. The old and familiar tasks, occupations and games no longer suffice; the soul seems to overflow, as it were, and demands new and more difficult problems to occupy it and to absorb its activities. The higher thought processes until now, latent, exhibit themselves in a variety of ways, and more formal and elaborate chains of inference supersede the reasoning from one particular instance to another that is so characteristic of the little child." (Nicholas M. Butler, "The Meaning of Education," page 209-210.)

The Four-Fold Challenge of Adolescence

Adolescence presents a four-fold challenge. It is said of Jesus that : " He advanced in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men." His education proceeded along four lines all combining to produce a symmetrical character.

Mental powers unfold rapidly during these years. Imagination, memory, attention, skill, reason respond readily to the influences of education.

Physically, this is a critical era of development. Permanent health habits are achieved or the opportunity of realizing permanent health is lost. The power to play is likewise an achievement that is now possible. Sex organs mature and sex differences are established.

Religious changes are now made with relative ease and permanency. Religion is a matter of spontaneous interest. Some personal attitude toward God and the Church will be assumed.

Religious beliefs and sentiments are natural and inevitable. Careless indifference and studied hostility or intimate companionship and trustful obedience may become a permanent part of life. The religious preferences that are built up during childhood as a result of the influences of others are either ratified and personally appropriated or rejected as unworthy. The power to discover for oneself the spiritual messages of the Bible and the soul-renewing value of prayer and worship is realized during adolescence. Fundamental mistakes of loyalty can be corrected, through conversion, without the losses which similar experiences in later years entail. A philosophy of life which puts Jesus at the center can be formed with as great clearness and sincerity as one that exalts self to the place of supreme regard. Adolescence offers a supreme challenge to the religious educator.

From the standpoint of moral and social education, adolescence is important because conscience, which has been forming gradually during childhood, now begins to function; the opinions of one's peers are taken with increasing seriousness; the responsibility of independent moral self-direction is taken up; personal ideals become more and more vivid; there is particular susceptibility to the influence of chums, and heroes, the adoree and the friend. Social relationships are now of conscious vital concern. How to act with social ease and strength is the inescapable problem of adolescence. The approval or disapproval of others is sure to be taken to heart. One's own ways of acting are compared with those of others who are near at hand. It is painfully annoying to be odd. It is highly satisfying to be popular. Many psychological forces are at work that make youth morally plastic. The formation of character is the inevitable result of adolescent experience. The basis of institutional loyalties are now laid.

Some Practical Suggestions

The physical changes, the intellectual outreaching, the social stress, and the religious crises, altogether cause this to be a most unstable, misunderstood and yet hopeful period. The youth now needs the sympathy, understanding and respect of adults as never before. The Psalmist said even of God: "Thy gentleness hath made me great."

The quiet, comparatively stolid years of childhood are over and the time for corporal punishment, scolding and nagging is past. The adolescent is not only ripening but hardening into the character which is to be his for life. The time has come to make the transition from management by an adult to that of self -management.

OF ADOLESCENTS U

In this period when the youth is never calm, the one who is leading him must always be calm. We can never afford to be disquieted when he is. Especially must we keep hopeful when he is in despair. At this age, when we are perpetually being annoyed by the superlatives, the shallowness, the moods, the unrestraint and the secretiveness of youth, we must try, as Puffer reminds us, not only to remember how we ourselves once acted, but how we once felt. It seems incredible, but it is so, that we once had the same impulses. If we have forgotten, our parents haven't.

Now when, as LeBaron Briggs wittily says, "The adolescent wants to behave like a child and be treated like a gentleman," we have to be prompt with our forgiveness of the sudden fickle tendencies for if we do not forgive him when he is sorry, then he will soon not be sorry and will not care to be forgiven. Next to trust in God, perhaps the chief virtue called for in parents and teachers and leaders, is a sense of humor. Next in commonness to the mistake of supposing that the members of our particular group or class are exceptionally brilliant is that of supposing that they are exceptionally difficult. The chances are that they are neither. The fact is that all children of parts during this period aie at times anti-domestic, "Agin' the Government," forgetful of their duty to their parents, unappreciative of teachers, and sometimes apparently dull in affection.

It is also the time for renewed hopefulness. They never were as near the water-shed that leads over to manliness and womanliness as now. They are also just about to become most enjoyable, for the first time in their lives becoming capable of being comrades on a level with their parents, teachers and leaders. The child is too busy discovering himself to appreciate the sacrifices that others are making in his behalf, but youth gradually becomes appreciative and companionable. If treated with the respect which is his due, he enters readily into the joys and sorrows of his leaders.

Questions for Individual and Class Study

1. What portion of life is included in the period of adolescence?

2. What aie the chief general characteristics of this period?

3. Of what value is it to study the mental, social and religious aspects of adolescence?

4. Into what three epochs is adolescence divided?

5. Describe the transition from childhood to youth.

6. Why should the period of adolescence be prolonged as far as possible? *

7. What harm would come to a young man's character if he were compelled to live on a lonely farm, in social isolation during the years twelve to twenty?

8. How would a similar deprivation affect a girl? ^

9. What is the four-fold challenge of adolescence?

10. Why is adolescence particularly important from the standpoint of moral and religious education?

11. Why are young people of this age difficult to manage?

CHAPTER II PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT The Law of Rhythm

Within the entire span of adolescence there are three distinct types of physical growth. Following the period of later childhood, which is a time of relatively slow development, there are three or four years of very rapid but uneven growth. When a boy begins to "shoot up," he shows the unmistakable signs of entering physical adolescence. The annual rate of increase in height usually is greatest during the fourteenth to the sixteenth years.

This period of accelerated growth is followed by one in which the parts that have increased in size are adjusted to each other. The rate of development is now slower and the unity or integrity of the body is being established.

Then comes the later period of final maturation and "baptism of power. " All the different parts have reached their mature size; they have been "worked in" so that they are adjusted to each other, and now comes the "final invoice of energy."

Physical growth comes on in waves. It is characterized by seasons of pause, when one feels a sense of power, alternating with others of acceleration marked by lassitude, often misnamed "laziness." Growth, therefore, is in accordance with the law of rhythm. During the period when pure growth or increase in mere bulk or size is rapid, development or organization is relatively slow and when development, particularly, is taking place, the rate of increase in size is retarded. Later "childhood and middle adolescence are periods of rapid development but relatively slow growth. Early adolescence is a time of very rapid growth as later adolescence is the period of rapidly expanding energy or capacity for exertion. When energy is no longer needed for growth, it tends to go out into work and play.