LESSON 1
THE WORLD THE TEENAGER IS BORN INTO
Putting the Influences of
Human History,
Ethnicity, Social Status, Segregated Communities,
the Cultural Structures of Temporized Life and Media Dominance,
and the Complexity of the Modern Work World
in Perspective
Presented by
THE NATURAL SYSTEMS INSTITUTE
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
1
The Point of View Participants Should
Take When Viewing this Slide Show
If you are a parent, teacher, counselor, or maturity coach,
try looking at the concepts presented here
as though you are a teenager
facing
these environmental, historical, and cultural forces
as structural demands and influences.
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
2
Expanding the Teenager’s Manner of Gaining
Perspectives on, Comprehending, and Adjusting
to the Modern World
Before They are Taught the Hard Facts
Learning the Nature of the Earth, Human History, and World Population
Evolution of Humans and All Species
History of Humanity
Population Distribution
Ethnic and Racial Diversity
Segregation of Communities
Socio-Economic Stratification and Opportunity
Life History and Life Span
Life Styles and Quality of Life
Your Role at this Point in Time
the Challenge of Your Future
What are the Implications of these Factors
for the Future of Living Your Life
and Living Together with Your Fellow Humans on Earth?
How do these factors effect the futures of today’s youth?
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
3
For Millions of Years Evolutionary Bio-psychology Shaped Genders, Gender
Relations, and the Manner in Which Humans Organize Themselves into Groups.
VIEWING 14 MILLION YEARS OF HUMAN PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE:
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT OUR PERSPECTIVE
ON THE CULTURE, VALUES, AND CUSTOMS OF OUR PRESENT DAY?
All of the configuration of modern history is a fleeting, arbitrary blip in time that will shortly be gone, forgotten, and
replaced with something entirely different.
Each of us must give our allegiance to the present because our fellow human beings would not be able to understand
and relate to us otherwise.
All must give allegiance to the present because we are all interdependent upon one another for the quality of each
other’s lives.
This configuration of the world changes in many small ways with each new generation.
Each of must adapt to and participate in the forging of those changes for our mutual benefit.
7 MILLION YEARS PAST
PRESENT: 20th CENTURY
7 MILLION YEARS FUTURE
How does this perspective affect your idea of how you are going to live your life?
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
4
From Anthropoid, Pre-Historical, to Modern Times: Culture, Socio-Political, Sexual, and Commercial Organization Has Evolved
• Partly still apes and almost human the precursors to humans
probably lived in caves, mountain tops, or other protected
settings. They probably lived in very close proximity in their
home territory. At night, they probably slept bunched together.
They probably had no sexual culture, no knowledge of
reproduction or kinship, no rituals, no taboos. They probably
had no sense of clock and calendar time. Language was
probably grunts and screams. They probably had no concept
of modesty or privacy with respect to their body and bodily
functions. Consequently sexuality was probably
indiscriminant. Sex was probably with whomever and
whenever sexual advances were reciprocated.
• Without taboos, pleasure and pain guided behavior. Life spans
were very short. There were no elders or models, no one to
censure, no inappropriate behavior. If something was painful
or inconvenient, instant retaliation was the rule. Territoriality
was probably limited to anthropoids and other species that
were outside of their habitat. Outsiders were not only attacked,
but were eaten.
• Sex, originally, was not private, and much less exclusive. It
was indiscriminant with respect to gender and age.
Accessibility and absence of physical rebuff was the rule.
Anyone could have sex with anyone who was receptive, at any
place, and at any time. Sex probably differed very little from
eating. It was probably the rule rather than the exception that
several people had sex together. When anyone began sex play,
anyone near who became aroused and who was not rebuffed
could get involved. Since sex is so intensely pleasant, bonds
were created and strengthened between the people associated
with one’s sexual pleasure. And, since sex was indiscriminant,
probably everyone in a tribe or habitat had sex with everyone
else, creating a strongly intra-community bond. Everyone in a
habitat was ‘family’.
• Children were probably communal property rather than
offspring. Probably, initially, mothers would suckle and protect
their babies, but as soon as the babies were able to walk, they
became communal. Since sexuality was probably
indiscriminant, use of force was probably very rare. Men and
women probably had sex with sexually mature offspring
because men did not know the concept of offspring and women
had no concept of negative consequences, like pregnancy.
• Eventually, after millions of years, as anthropoids evolved into
humans, causes and their effects began to be put together and
the concept of offspring from parents arose. The significance
of this concept would remain the exclusive concern of mothers
who probably eventually became concerned with who was
going to father their child.
3/19/2016
• The technology of housing was probably the forerunner of today’s concept of
family. Housing moved from caves to constructed dwellings. In the
beginning, housing to protect from the elements and predators probably
consisted of small units because larger units would have been to difficult to
construct initially. Once a tribe’s habitat was divided into small housing units,
two levels of bonding were created, the tribal habitat and the family hut.
People in the hut slept together, ate together, worked together to secure and
cook food, repair the hut, protect their ‘territory’, and had sex together.
• This is the evolutionary heritage of modern humans. All humans are created
with polymorphous sexual potential which the transmitters of culture quickly
try to subdue. Children, unsupervised, exhibit these polymorphous
tendencies spontaneously. Parents, the representatives of the culture, are
forced to punish these tendencies out of their children under threat of social
censure. However, once pleasure has been experienced from something that
is culturally taboo, a suppressed or repressed desire for that experience
remains in the deeper recesses of the mind, surfacing in dreams or guilt
ridden fantasy. Mothers, guarding the reproductive behavior of the female
offspring, probably originated incest taboos. Then the mother’s mate, the
husband and father, as they are known today, instituted taboos against
promiscuity in order to ensure offspring from their wives were their own.
• In order to protect such rights, physical power was exerted within the tribe,
between families, and within families. As the exercise of physical power led to
violence, this worked against the survival of the tribe and was transformed
into the exercise of personal or interpersonal power, sometimes based upon
age and experience, sometimes upon demonstrated and valued skills, and
sometimes upon psychological and verbal sophistication.
• In order to maintain order and prevent violence within the tribe under these
emerging conditions, role systems began to emerge. Role systems
differentiated into Chieftains, Shamans, Medicine men, and other experts to
train and mentor children in the arts hunting, herding, farming, cloths making,
weapon making, hut making, boat making, birthing and childcare, and many
more as time and invention went on. To regulate the tribe and to pass on
these cultural innovations, the tribal leaders developed rules. To enforce rules
without physical force, the tribal leaders created gods and threatened
punishment by the gods for transgressing rules. From gods, Shamans and
leaders instituted religions and religious rituals. Rituals were enacted to gain
favor with the gods but served to authenticate the tribal rules which now
became incorporated into their religion as codes of commandments.
• As tribes grew larger, they became communities and then cities and then city
states. To control these larger cities, politics was developed and secular laws
were developed. For protection and defense against rival cities, warlords with
armies and sophisticated weapons emerged. Gradually over time, arts, crafts,
sciences, and philosophies evolved. Exchange of crafts and arts led to
commerce and then to laws and social institutions governing trade. All of
these developments led to the modern world.
• Identification with city-states, warlords, religions, practitioners of crafts and
arts, and social institutions demanded loyalty to their interests and secrets.
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
5
You came into the world at this point in the evolution of human society.
What are you going to do with this knowledge?
• Are you going to be a part?
• Are you going to be a participant in maintaining and improving
the quality of life?
• Knowing that your own life history, as small part of the whole,
– is perhaps less fortunate than some and more fortunate than others,
– does this make you bitterly antagonistic
– or does it make you determined to respect all people regardless of
circumstances they were born into
– and determined to make the best of your lot in life
– while working to improve the lot of all humans?
• Knowing that human society has had a long history of struggling
to improve an imperfectly developed world, are you willing to be
a part of the ongoing effort to make things better?
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
6
What Can We Learn From the History of Earth, Life, and Humans That Can
Help Us Identify and Understand Problems With Our Current Existence and
Potential Problems for the Future?
History of
Earth and Its
People
Future of
Earth and
Human Life
Are Life and Human Cultures, As We Know Them Today,
Merely Arbitrary and Ephemeral?
If So, What Could We Change to Make Life More Sensible and Fulfilling, Yet More
Constructive with Respect to Our Future and the Future of Earth?
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
7
Imagine you were born 1000 years ago or 1000
years in the future. How different do you think life
would be and you would be?
• If you consider the history of the world, do you think
that the fact that you were born
• at this particular time rather than some distant time
in the past or far into the future
• has made a difference in the kind of person you are?
–
–
–
–
Your Personality?
Your knowledge and skills?
The careers that are possible for you?
Your customs, values, possessions, affiliations, and your
life style in general?
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
8
What are some structural factors in our culture that
have powerful effects on what teenagers face as
they are about to enter the adult world as
independent, self-reliant persons, taking advantage
of the opportunities available in the Modern World?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Dealing with the Rapid Changes and Complexity of our Socio-Economic World.
Dealing with Ethnic Diversity.
Dealing with Differences in Family Affluence.
Dealing with the Status of the Neighborhood You Come From.
Dealing with the Pressures of Time and Schedules in the Modern World.
Dealing with the Impact of our Media Bombarded World.
Dealing the Diversity and Complexity of Occupational Choices.
Dealing with the difficulty of learning how to use and relate to the vast number in
institutions, types of businesses, and the vast variety of services potentially available to
help you.
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
9
RAPIDLY CHANGING AND
COMPLEX MODERN WORLD
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
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First, Biological Evolution Slowly, Then Cultural Evolution, Rapidly, Has Shaped Modern Humans
Time Line For Human History And Perspective On Human Physical And Social Evolution
The rate of acceleration of human culture
.
7 MILLION YEARS AGO,
THE DAWN ON HOMINIDS
ONE TINY LIFE SPAN
LAST 200 YEARS
7 MILLION YEARS
IN THE FUTURE
HUMAN HISTORY BEGINS
MODERN
HUMAN
HISTORY
Leading up to the present, there have been changes in:
the nature and conduct of science and technology;
harnessing energy;
transportation;
bases for socio-political power and influence;
complexity and type of organization of social institutions;
laws regulating business, interpersonal relations,
reproduction, property, and labor;
values and customs regulating free behavior patterns;
methods and manner of disseminating information.
In the future progress will rapidly accelerate in:
Integration of disciplines and macro and micro levels of
science;
bio-engineering;
remote and customized control engineering;
individualized, transformational energy systems;
social institution organizations adapted to human nature;
communication based egalitarian power systems;
world-wide, borderless, communication systems;
international law;
transnational business and commerce;
disappearance of generalized laws regulating marriage,
reproduction, property, and labor;
totally individualized education and dissemination of
knowledge and information.
7 MILLION YEARS
IN THE FUTURE
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
11
Who’s Time in the History of the World is the Right One?
Well, things sure aren’t the way they used to be.
Kids are getting worse all the time.
We need to go back to the good ole days!
So, Grampa, you would like to
go back to the good ole days
when life expectancy was about
ten years less than your age?
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
12
How Are You Going to Relate to These Changes in Society?
1. New things are constantly being invented
as are new ways of doing things.
2. Typically, it is a little scary to try to learn
how to use new things or do things a new
way.
3. Yet this is all a part of opening new
opportunities, new careers, and new job
opportunities.
4. Typically, it feels a little funny to do
something different from the way you
‘always do it’.
Well, if it feels funny, instead of
saying ‘no’, why not just try it and go ahead
and laugh as you experiment with the new
challenge?
5. Even though you might not be good at it, at
least you will be familiar with it, and maybe
a little less scared of it in the future.
6. They say that when opportunity knocks,
you should open the door.
7. Well, what about trying knocking on the
new doors first?
3/19/2016
Knocking on Opportunity’s Door
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
13
Perspectives on ‘a ‘ Life
Go to the next slide and take a moment to make up a brief story of what this man has done in his life and what the future may hold for him. Tell the group
the story you made up. Then do the same for the woman.
Life
What’s it
like inside each
person as they
History
consider their future
based on their past
successes and
failures?
Life History
Future Life
Future Life
Perspective from inside
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
14
Imagine you are the man or woman in the previous slide.
As your story character, ‘you’ are now an adult and have completed
schooling and are in your life’s career.
Imagine writing about you, your past, and prospects for your future.
What are ‘you’ going to write, to say, about ‘you’?
Write about three brief sentences for 1., 2., and 3. below:
• How did you do in the first eight grades in school? Was your home environment conducive to
studying and doing well in school? Were your parents supportive and encouraging of your
education? Were your parents critical and punitive toward your performance in school? How did
you feel about school? How well prepared were you for high school or vocational school? Were
you involved in any academic or athletic extracurricular activities? Now that you are out of
school and working, what do you wish you could have done differently in those early school
years?
• How did you do in the years before graduation? Was your home environment conducive to
studying and doing well in school? Were your parents supportive and encouraging of your
education? Were your parents critical and punitive toward your performance in school? How did
you feel about your last years in school? Were you involved in any academic or athletic
extracurricular activities? Did your friends influence your performance in school in a positive or a
negative way? How did you handle the peer pressure? Do you feel you prepared yourself well
or not so well for life’s next step of entering the world of work? What do you think were the major
factors that hindered your getting sufficiently well educated so that you could succeed in work?
What do you wish you could have or would have done differently in your last school years?
• Did you know what you wanted to do, where work is concerned, after you graduated? Did you
receive help and guidance with respect to career choices and working out helpful plans to
prepare for your career choice. Were you able to get any on-hands experience with work or
careers that you were considering? What do you wish had been different with respect to making
career choices and tailoring your education toward those career choices?
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
15
THE INCREASING
RACIAL AND ETHNIC,
DIVERSITY
OF MODERN AMERICA
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
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PERSPECTIVES on the EARTH and its POPULATION
and AMERICA and its POPULATION
Upper
Earth's and America’s
Stratified
Social and Economic
Population
Middle
Lower
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Part of the World a
Person is From
and
Nation of Origin
Ethnic Diversity in America
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
17
How do You Deal with Ethnic and Socio-Economic Diversity in America?
You are different. I don’t know you. I don’t understand you.
I don’t like you. I am afraid of you.
I am going to stay away from you and treat you like you are not welcome.
• Ethnic diversity in any organization, such as a school,
initially elicits negative reactions that, unless dealt with
by the authorities in the organization, is very likely to only
grow worse over time.
• This makes everyone prone to carry around unhealthy
emotions and this effects the performance of everyone.
• Negative mutual perceptions and relations can turn into
occasional outbreaks of violence.
• Violence then becomes a major problem for the youth,
the authorities, and the whole organization.
• If the organization, such as a school, provides a structured
program through which the ethnically diverse youths can
safely get to know one another by sharing their life
histories and their feelings and doing things together.
Hey! I understand you now and I like you.
We make a good team. I am happy!
• If they are given exercises wherein ethnically diverse
teams can work cooperatively together, they eventually will
come to understand and trust each other and to be
mutually supportive.
• With this new kind of structure, the formerly negative
reactions and emotions are transformed into positive ones.
• Performance improves among everyone. The morale of
the whole organization improves, and problems of conflict
and violence virtually disappear.
3/19/2016
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
18
THE EFFECTS OF
THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS
OF FAMILY AND
NEIGHBORHOOD
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
19
The Effects of:
Stratification and Segregation of a City’s Population
by Socio-Economic Status
into Homogeneous Neighborhoods
Most Affluent Neighborhood
Blue Collar
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Will the
neighborhood
you live in
influence
other aspects
of you as a
person?
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
White Collar
Manual Labor and Unemployed
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How are You Going to Let
the Type of Community and Neighborhood
You Live in Effect Your Life?
• My socio-economic status is derived from my parents.
THE EGO POGO STICK
Your socio-economic status is derived from your
I’m better than them. I’m superior to you.
parents.
• My parents’ socio-economic status pretty much
determines the neighborhood I live in, as does yours.
• But I am not my parents and you are not your parents.
I should not be stereotyped, labeled, or judged
according to the neighborhood I live in. I should not
judge you on that basis either.
• Some parents can buy their kids more expensive cloths
and some parents can only afford less expensive
cloths.
• Just because of this, should any of us feel we are better
than others? Should any of us feel we are not as good
as others? Should any deserve more respect?
• We do not all have to dress the same, but if we did,
could we all feel we were just as good as and only as
good as everyone else?
• How about, instead, all of us trying to learn to treat
everyone as though they are all due equal respect,
equal opportunity, and appreciate each others’ unique
qualities and talents?
• If we did this, the our egos would not be like they were
on pogo sticks. We would not be so jealous or envious
of others or look down on others. We would not see
others as rivals to be attacked and put down.
• How about if we try to see things this way and to act
this way?
He is better than me. I’m inferior. They look down on me.
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
21
Pressures
of Time and Schedules
in the Modern World
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
22
Dealing with the Modern Time-dominated World
• The modern world is filled with schedules, deadlines, calendar
dates, appointments, due dates, expiration dates, startup
dates, sequences and pre-requisites, timelines, shifts, turns,
time limits, gauging amount of time, and on and on.
• A young person growing up today has an enormous number
time-based things to remember. The beginner has to learn to
make their life conform to all of these schedules and temporal
demands or else they are simply left behind.
• Having life so tightly and interdependently organized and so
temporized has the advantage of efficiency and effectiveness
that makes possible the incredible productivity that brings
extremely sophisticated survival and luxury goods and services
to the largest number of people in history.
• The question is: how does one learn to adapt one’s life to
these stringent temporal demands and still be able to be stress
free and enjoy these bountiful benefits?
• At what age should parents and other child care authorities
begin to induct children into this highly temporized world and
train them to meet these demands and adapt without losing the
ability to enjoy life and express their innate capacity for
creativity?
• If you have a reluctance to adapt to this tightly temporized
world and you do not learn it well, there will be a constant tug
of war between you and the people around you. You will miss
the opportunity to master pre-requisites for all the things in life
you have come to long for.
• Learning to adapt to the temporized world is very difficult. For
the most part, youth are not explicitly taught how to do this.
They are not coached and trained to do this. It is a catch as
catch can and if you do not catch, the people in your world will
let you know their displeasure with you very quickly and
harshly.
• The kind thing for parents, teachers, counselors, and maturity
coaches to do is have an explicit plan and program to patiently
and assiduously orient youth to their temporized world.
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MONTH
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
Remember when you
have to return that!
Don’t forget Gran’s
birthday. You have less
than one week to
complete that. Do you
have a job lined up for
this summer? It is only
three weeks away.
Don’t forget to pick up your
little brother at school today.
You know how forgetful you
are when playing.
What is the matter with you?
It should not take more than
fifteen minutes to do that!
Time is running out! If you
don’t hurry, you won’t finish
that test! You better learn
to pace yourself!
23
Understanding the Effects
of Media Bombardment
on Your Self-Esteem, Time, Health,
Desires, Interests, and Goals - - and your money!
Modern media ‘dazzle’
is so prevalent and constant
that it is like the oxygen we breath.
Most of us are not conscious
of the powerful way ‘dazzle’ shapes our lives.
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
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Our senses are bombarded. What we see and hear stirs up our emotions, makes us feel excited,
sexy, and, like the media heroes, feel that we are super-special too. The media ads make us want
to buy. What we see and hear and makes us want to do, be, and look like our screen heroes. If
this is not possible, we feel like we are missing out on something and perhaps even feel inferior.
If our team wins, let’s go speed up and down
main blasting the horn and playing the woofer
real loud. If our team loses, let’s go bust
somebody else’s car up!
Wow! This album is crazy cool! I
got to go buy it right now. This
group is top of the charts.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you don’t like the way
you feel, take one of the ‘buzz’ pills and you will
be jumpin and jiving in no time at all.
Guaranteed!
Buy it now!
I don’t like the
way I feel
right now.
Ain’t this exciting. It makes
me feel so sexy. What do you
say we go see if we can score
some weed and hang out
when this is over.
Wow! She thinks Ralph
Clayborn jeans are sexy. I got
to get me some of them. I can
buy them online right now and
wear them next week!
DAZZLED
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
25
Dealing with the Dazzle in the Modern World
• The constant repetition, in fascinating and appealing ways, of ads and stars modeling attractive life styles that create the feeling in
their audience, US, of “have to” plays in subliminal ways on our minds. They cause us to have unconscious compulsions that say,
“I have to have that.”; “I have to do that.”; “I have to be that or be that way.” We get this driven sense of “have to” for something
and yet we really do not know why. If asked, we are likely to answer, “Just because I really like that.”, even though we were fine
before exposure to the media, we have no direct experience with the desired thing, and can give no utilitarian explanation. It is
just that without that thing we feel an anxious longing and a feeling our lives are missing something vital that almost painfully
gnaws at us until we obtain that thing.
• The other way these media appeals influence is to simply plant in our memory, stored away without our awareness, and then one
day, when we are in the presence of that particular thing, our attention is drawn to it and we suddenly reach for it as a faint voice
(media influence) inside reassures us that we need it and it is the smart, in, thing to do.
• So, subliminally suggested needs and unconsciously implanted choices are constantly directing our lives and making us suffer the
“have to” until we have acquired or done the suggested thing. Sometimes these media ploys affect our emotions so strongly that
we have to burst out in a blind, impulsive, extravagant rush of emotional expression. And all the while it is really this new
phenomena of pervasive, overwhelmingly appealing media that is shaping the majority of our time on earth.
• Of course, if you point this out to a person, adult or teen, while they are in the grips of the obsession, the only reaction you will get
is denial and intense resentment. Therefore, our lives will continue to be driven by these irrational, media-implanted, suggestions
until on some lucky day someone calmly and objectively points out how this is happening, just as it is happening, and, without
being in the least judgmental, encourages you to do your own thinking and examine what is going on and assists you in
questioning why you have so many of these otherwise irrational needs.
• Just coming to an inner awareness of how this works, however, is still not enough. Once the irrational criterion for fulfillment gets
lodged in the frontal lobe of your brain and starts driving you, it is extremely difficult to wrest yourself free of it. Doing so requires
very strict self discipline plus a method for queuing up an early warning system [“Stop and think!”] immediately when the
compulsion is activated.
• One of the most unfortunate examples of this influence is the way the appeal of ads about medication works on a person. First an
association is made with some form of feeling discomfort like anxiety, or acid reflux, or the like. Then comes the effect of the
subliminal compulsion. Once the medication is used, there comes the famous placebo effect which makes the person feel that the
medication is working like a miracle. This could last for several weeks, but, by that time, the phenomenon of the ‘irrational criterion
for fulfillment’ has gotten lodged in your frontal lobe and starts driving you, as was mentioned earlier. It has now become a
pattern, a habit, a compulsion, that pops up before you can think rationally and makes you feel like you will be in deep trouble if
you don’t take that medication. You do all of this in spite of the fact that it is really a placebo effect. Even long after the placebo
effect wears off, you are still driven.
• For most people today this media influenced life pattern leaves them profoundly unfulfilled with respect to the deeply personal,
universal needs for authenticity and genuine, mutually supportive, bonds with one another, regardless of what one has, what one
is, or what one does. The absence of that authentic, peaceful state makes people feel perpetually empty and alone even when
with their best friend. This emptiness creates a different kind of anxiety that the ‘have to’ can not quell. It is the anxiety over just
‘being’ and drives even the seemingly secure people to have to gain confirmation that they are admired and that they cannot be
displaced from whatever supposedly secure ‘position’ they have in organizations and relationships. Yet, even official, legal
confirmation of a relationship, like marriage, does not remove this profound anxiety over, simply, the state or status of ‘being’.
• When this latter dilemma is addressed and resolved, an inner state of serenity takes over and makes rational living possible.
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
26
Rapidly Changing
Diversity and Complexity
of Occupational Choices
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
27
THE RAPIDLY CHANGING SCENE of OCCUPATIONS
in BUSINESS, INSTITUTIONS, and SERVICES in the U.S.
Below are a few broad categories representing the vast number of occupational choices available in the modern
world. Each of these occupational categories has an extraordinary number of levels of jobs from executives and
supervisors through professional positions to skilled and unskilled workers. Occupations in the U.S. are
constantly expanding and changing. Today, people have to renew their skill training or education throughout
their lives to stay qualified even in their own fields of experience and expertise.
1. Child care and domestic services
2. Food services and food distribution
3. Education, information, and knowledge resources
4. Clothing and adornment
5. Personal and beauty care and services
6. Construction, house and building services, and real estate
7. Utilities and energy
8. Transportation services and road construction
9. Environmental services
10. Farming and ranching
11. Businesses and factories
12. Mass and personal communications
13. Retail stores, malls, service industry
14. Marketing and sales
15. Money, banks, savings and loans, insurance, accounting
16. Hospitals, doctors, medicines, rehabilitation
17. Religious institutions
18. Entertainment, recreation, and sports
19. Government, police, law, human services and institutions
20. Science and engineering
21. Military services
22. Care for the aging, funeral and burial services
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HOW DO YOU MAKE CAREER CHOICES
AND CREATE PLANS TO REACH THEM?
WHAT DO YOU SEE STANDING IN THE WAY OF YOUR REACHING YOUR GOALS?
NAME SOME THINGS YOU COULD DO ABOUT THESE POTENTIAL HURDLES AND BARRIERS?
IF YOU SEE HARDSHIPS THAT LOOK OVERWHELMING, HOW MIGHT YOU DEAL WITH THEM?
WHAT ARE SOME LEGITIMATE SOURCES OF HELP YOU MIGHT TURN TO?
I keep changing my mind.
I get confused.
I don’t know how to go about it.
I’m not sure I can do it.
How do I know if I am suited?
I am not sure I am prepared.
Who can help with all this?
Where do I go for help?
Detours
barriers
Hurdles
Hardships
Life Goals
Intermediate Required Goals
Exploratory Goals
Unrelated Pastime Goals
Daily Goals
Chores and Duties
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Learning how to use and relate to
the vast number of
service institutions,
schools,
types of businesses,
and a vast variety of other services potentially
available to you
to help you toward reaching your career goals
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30
LIVES UNFOLD in the CONTEXT of MANY KINDS of INSTITUTIONS and SERVICES
How can they help or hinder you to reach your goals? How do they figure in your needs and plans?
How do you use them? How do you discipline yourself to use them rationally and realistically?
You might want to print copies of this page for participants
INSTITUTIONS and SERVICES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Family, marriage, parenthood
Housing, utilities, transportation
Clothing and adornment
Food and food distribution
Retail stores, Malls, service
industry
6. Businesses, products
7. Money, banks, savings and loans
8. Hospitals, doctors, medicines
9. Mass and individual
communications
10.Government, police, human
services
11.Education, knowledge resources
12.Religious institutions
13.Entertainment and recreation
14.Life insurance, funeral, burial
15. Jobs and other
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TAKE a MOMENT to DESCRIBE HOW DID, DOES, and CAN
THESE INSTITUTIONS and SERVICES AFFECT YOUR LIFE?
1.___________________________
2.___________________________
3.___________________________
4.___________________________
5.___________________________
6.___________________________
7.___________________________
8.___________________________
9.___________________________
10.__________________________
11.__________________________
12.__________________________
13.__________________________
14.__________________________
15.__________________________
Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
31
Preparedness for the Vast Variety of Life’s Survival Needs and Crises
in Today’s Complex World
1. If you plan to have a family and children, what effect will this have on your plans for your career?
2. If you plan to rent or buy an apartment or house, how do you factor this into your plans? How
do you work out transportation to work and to get the kids to school?
3. What kind of cloths will you need and will you be able to afford?
4. What will you have as a strategy for food? What do you have to consider with respect to good
nutrition, health, and affordability?
5. Where do plan to shop? How do you find the right stores for what you need and that are in your
price range? How do you plan to pay? By credit, cash, or other?
6. When you need appliances, furniture, and other products, how do find products that are reliable,
serviceable, as well as affordable?
7. How do you plan to manage your income? Will you need checking and savings accounts?
8. What do you plan to do for your health needs? Will you need health insurance? If so what
kind? How to you find the right doctor for types of health problems and needs? Where is the
hospital?
9. How do you plan to meet your communication needs? Will you need a telephones, cell phones,
computer, cable TV, radio, music players? If so, which can serve your basic needs and stay
within your budget?
10.If you need Medicaid, Welfare, Employment Services, Unemployment Compensation, where will
you go?
11.Will you need to continue or upgrade your education or training? Where do you go to find out
what is most practical for your particular needs? Where can you find assistance for tuition and
other educational expenses, if you need them?
12.If you plan to address your and your family’s spiritual needs, what religious institutions will meet
the unique spiritual needs of you and your family? Which is most conveniently located?
13.What kind of entertainment and recreation will match the interests and preferences of you and
your spouse best, and which will match those of your children best? Which can meet these
needs and desires and stay within your budget?
14.How do you plan for the possibility of your death or that of one of your family members?
15.In case you or someone in your family is suddenly laid off or for other reasons need a new job,
where you turn to find the services that have the best range of alternative jobs to select form, the
best information to help you choose, and at the right cost?
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32
Perspectives on ‘YOUR ‘ Life
AFTER CONSIDERING YOUR PAST, WHAT DO YOU THINK
YOU NEED TO CHANGE ABOUT YOURSELF?
DO YOU NEED TO CHANGE SOMETHING ABOUT
THE WAY YOU LOOK AT LIFE, PEOPLE, CAREER POSSIBILITIES?
DO YOU NEED TO BE MORE REALISTIC ABOUT
Future Life
ALTERNATIVES
Life History YOU ARE CONSIDERING?
What’s it INFORMED ABOUT YOUR
DO YOU NEED TO BECOME BETTER
like inside YOU and
ALTERNATIVEinside
CAREER
THEM? GOALS?
What
can you learn CHANGING
DO YOU NEED TO
CONSIDER
the experiences
THE WAY YOU COPEfrom
WITH
CERTAIN PROBLEMS?
of others?
DO YOU NEED TO EXPLORE AND GET IN BETTER TOUCH WITH
WHAT YOU REALLY LIKE AND ARE INTERESTED IN?
DO YOU NEED TO GET MORE CLEAR ABOUT
WHERE YOU ARE GOING IN LIFE IN GENERAL
Life AND
History
Future Life
HOW TO GET THERE?
Perspective from inside
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33
Reassessing Your Goals, Beliefs, and View of the World
in the Light of What You Now Know
About How Cultural Influences, Life History, and Life Circumstances
Have Shaped Your Choices.
Take some time and consider each of the questions below and when the group is ready,
tell the group what two of the most important things are that you need to work on.
1. After considering your past and the challenges of today, what do you think
you need to change about yourself and your plans?
2. Do you need to change something about the way you look at life, people,
education, career possibilities? Do you need to be more realistic about the
alternatives you are considering?
3. Do you need to become better informed about your alternative career goals?
4. Do you need to consider changing the way you cope with certain problems
like, for example, peer pressure and romance, that may interfere with your
career preparation?
5. Do you need to explore and get in better touch with what you really like and
are interested in?
6. Do you need to get more clear about where you are going in life in general?
7. Do you need to question any of your beliefs about life that may lead you to
make choices that put you at a disadvantage?
8. Do you need to question the way you feel about life that may lead you to
make choices that put you at a disadvantage or cause you to miss
opportunities?
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34
Movies to Accompany This Lesson and Be Discussed in Group
Focus Concept When Viewing the Movie:
dealing with the different types complex structures or forces of
the modern world that have an impact on the psychological
development of teenagers.
• After you have studied and discussed slides of this lesson, it
would be helpful to view one of the movies listed below and
discuss it with your group in terms of the focus concept in the
lesson:
–
–
–
–
East is East (1999)
Synthetic Pleasures (1995)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Someone Else's America (1995)
• While viewing the movie of your choice, look for how the
complex structures and forces of the modern world impact
the youths’ personalities, values, and behavior. Note what
you think the major problem areas are for today’s youth.
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
35
Homework Exercises for Staff:
For each of the seven topics below, talk with a different youth.
Remember to make your questions open-ended.
After each interview below, jot down notes concerning the most valuable information and insights you gained from your talk with the youth.
• TOPIC: Rapid Changes and Complexity of the Business World. Ask the youth how they feel about going to work when they have
finished school. Ask what alternative types of work they have considered. Ask how much they know about the various
alternatives. Ask if they feel sure about their choices and if they feel they are making the right choice. Ask how difficult they think
it would be to find out what other alternatives might be better for them and how difficult it would be to find out everything they
would like to or need to know about these other alternatives. Finally, ask whether they feel the world of work and jobs is confusing
to them. Ask if they feel more information and help on this subject would be appreciated.
• TOPIC: Ethnic Diversity. Ask the youth how comfortable they feel with youth of different races and ethnic backgrounds. Ask how
race and ethnic background effects interpersonal relations in general in the institution or school. Ask how ethnic factors might
influence their school work, their learning, and even grades. Ask if they feel more help on this subject would be appreciated.
• TOPIC: Family Affluence and Status of the Neighborhood You Come From. Ask the youth if they feel some other youths receive
more and some less attention, if some are more and some are less popular, and if some are more and some less favored in other
ways. Ask the youth what they think accounts for these differences. Ask the youth how he/she is treated relative to these status
considerations. Ask the youth what kinds of effects these differences in treatment have on him/her. Ask if they feel more
information and help on this subject would be appreciated.
• TOPIC: Pressures of Time and Schedules in the Modern World. Ask the youth if they feel pressured by time. Ask how they do
with respect to keeping to schedules, keeping appointments, meeting deadlines, doing things on time, and remembering things
that are supposed to be done at a future date or time. Ask the youth, when considering how well they do in meeting these time
related demands, how it makes them feel about themselves. Ask if they feel more help on this subject would be appreciated.
• TOPIC: The Impact of Our Media Bombarded World. Ask the youth to name some of the people he/she really admires. Ask
which celebrities they would like to be like. Ask the youth if there are things they are dying to have, places they are dying to go,
and things they are dying to do. Ask the youth what they think would make them more cool or popular. Ask the youth where they
got their ideas about who they want to be like, what would make them cool, and things they desperately want to have and do. Ask
if they feel more information and help on this subject would be appreciated.
• TOPIC: Diversity and Complexity of Occupational Choices. Ask the youth what their goals are for after they finish school. Ask
the youth whether they feel their current education and educational goals will prepare them for what they want to eventually do for
a living; their eventual career and work. Ask the youth if they have asked for help or had help offered with respect to making
educational and career choices and what kind of help they have received. Ask the youth whether these sources of help have
really helped them and, if so, why they think so. Ask the youth what they are doing with respect to plans they made with the
helping sources. Ask the youth how realistic help has been and how realistic their plans are now. Ask if they feel more
information and help on this subject would be appreciated.
• TOPIC: The Difficulty of Learning How to Use And Relate to the Vast Number in Institutions, Types Of Businesses, and the Vast
Variety of Services Potentially Available to You with Respect to Your Future Needs. Ask the youth if they know where to go to get
the information or help they might need to address the first six TOPICS above.
After conducting all of your interviews and collecting your notes on what the youths said, bring your findings to the next group session and share
with the group what you feel are the most informative insights you gained from talking with the youths.
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
36
P0STSCRIPT:
This LESSON illustrates that part of the Natural System’s theory of
Structure that has to do with the most globally encompassing structure,
which in this case is the culture of Modern America. The LESSON
demonstrates how major factors in the global culture shape the minds
and behavior of its inhabitants.
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
37
Movie Synopses
•
•
•
•
Synthetic Pleasures (1995) Conceived as an electronic road movie, this documentary investigates
cutting edge technologies and their influence on our culture as we approach the 21st century. It
takes off from the idea that humankind’s effort to tap the power of Nature has been so successful
that a new world is suddenly emerging, an artificial reality. Virtual Reality, digital and
biotechnology, plastic surgery and mood-altering drugs promise seemingly unlimited powers to our
bodies, and our selves. This film presents the implications of having access to such power as we
all scramble to inhabit our latest science fictions. (Can be purchased from Amazon.com for $11)
Someone Else's America (1995) This tale take place in a bar. The Spanish Alonso and his blind
mother run this place. Bay, who is Alonso's friend live here too. This story tells something about
Alonso, Bay, and the "American Dream". (Can be rented from Blockbuster.com Search stores or
contact )
Hoop Dreams (1994). This documentary follows two inner-city Chicago residents, Arthur Agee and
William Gates, as they follow their dreams of becoming basketball superstars. Beginning at the
start of their high school years, and ending almost 5 years later, as they start college, we watch the
boys mature into men, retaining their "Hoop Dreams". Both are recruited into the same elite high
school as their idol, former Detroit Piston superstar Isaiah Thomas. Only one survives the first
year. The other must return to a high school closer to his home. Along the way, there is much
tragedy, some joy, a great wealth of information about inner city life, and the suspense of not
knowing what will occur next. This is not a "by-the-numbers" film. (Can be rented from
Blockbuster.com Must Search or contact stores)
East is East. (1999) In early 1970's England, a traditional Pakistani father (Om Puri) finds his
family spinning in decidedly non-traditional directions. His brood consisting of six sons and one
daughter all move in independent-minded directions set off when the eldest son runs away from
home rather than keeping to his fate of an arranged marriage. When the next two sons also find
out that their father has secretly been arranging marriages for them, they rebel and set off a
repercussion that forces the family to totally reconsider their family structure. In 1971, Salford fishand-chip shop owner George Khan expects his family to follow his strict Pakistani Muslim ways.
However, his children, with an English mother and having been born and brought up in Britain,
increasingly see themselves as British and start to reject their father's rules on dress, food, religion,
and living in general. (Can be rented from Blockbuster.com Search stores or contact or purchased
from Amazon.com for $2.50 to $10)
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Copyright by Edwin L.Young, PhD, 7/1997
38