(2 of 6)
At the heart of Eden's anomie lie vast technological changes in Western culture that have steadily lengthened childhood and sharply diminished communication between generations. In primitive cultures, boys become men immediately upon surviving harsh rites of passage. In agrarian societies, a hard-working farmer's son rapidly becomes a certified adult. Until recently, puberty occurred at about 14 or 15, marriage two or three years later. The word "teenager" was inconceivable for such 17-year-old adults as Joan of Arc or Surveyor George Washington. In the 18th century, many upper-class Englishmen impressively taught their eldest sons at home; in stressing adult concerns as well as academics, they took Locke's advice: "The sooner you treat him as a man, the sooner he will be one."
Today, the pressure is to stay in school to be better prepared for life in a complex society. Meanwhile, better nutrition has ironically quickened puberty; the young are now biological adults at twelve or 13, but they usually cannot legally work full time at even the few remaining unskilled jobs until at least 16; though draftable at 18, they cannot vote until 21, and are often economically dependent on their parents until 24 or 25. In effect, they may stay children for more than a decade after becoming "adults."
Divided Living
Nothing is wrong with segregating youth as a distinct stage of life, provided that the right purpose is served, namely to strengthen children for highly complex roles. On the whole, this is just what happens to the vast majority of American youngsters. Even so, the failure rate is big enough to ask why some of the most privileged children are so unready for adult life. One reason is the lack of self-shaping experience; part of the hippie syndrome is a quest for adventure and competence. They did not have the benefit of those cattle-boat jobs that might have helped to slake the thirst for adventure; they rarely got a chance to help their father at work.
To a startling degree, American parents have handed child raising to educational institutions that can not or will not do the job. Not that parents deliberately neglect children; life has simply changed. Families have lost unifying economic functions and have shrunk to two adults with no aunts, uncles or grandparents to help guide the children. All the heat is on parents, but fathers typically work in distant offices, leaving mothers to raise sons with insufficient fatherly support. Too many mothers are preoccupied with their outside activities—everything but the children.