LESSON 2
Structures of High School Settings
and the Hidden Threats that Shape
the Emotional and Behavioral Patterns Of Teenagers
Presented by
THE NATURAL SYSTEMS INSTITUTE
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
1
THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STRUCTURES:
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HOME ENVIRONMENT
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH SCHOOL SETTINGS
AND RELATED FACTORS
THAT DIFFERENTIALLY ALTER
THE EMOTIONS, BEHAVIOR, AND PERSONALITY
OF HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH
This Lesson is intended for Administrators, Training Directors, and Professionals
of High Schools and Juvenile Correctional Institutions
and for Parents, Staff, Teachers, and Counselors1endnote slide 35
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Characteristics Of Life History And The Environment Selectively Evoke Types Of Emotions
• Enduring Inner States Of The Person In Relation To Variations Of Environmental Support And Threats
• Transformations Of Inner States Induced By The Structures Of The Home And The School
• School: Setting Centered Emotion Transformations
• Examples Of Types Of Situations
• Major Teen Emotions And Feelings
• The Classroom Setting
• Hallway Setting Between Classes
• Student Government
• Lunch In The School Cafeteria
• After School Adjourns For The Day
• After School Extra-curricular Groups
• After School Athletics
• Evenings at Home
• Evenings Away From Home
• The Effects Of Degrees Of Control And Threat In The Structure Of An Environment On The Type And Degree Of
Freedom Of Expression
• Factors Involved In The Structure Of A School System
• Encompassing Structure-centered Transformations Of Settings Within The School System
• Restructuring The School’s Structure, Systems, And Settings To Evoke Positive Situations And Positive Feelings And
Behavior
• Person Centered Emotion Transformations Within Optimal Structures
• Movies To Accompany The Lesson And Exercises
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
3
Questions Being Addressed
• Why are some students non-participants in any school activities?
• Why are some students frequently disciplined, suspended, or expelled?
• Why are some students frequently absent, failing, or drop outs?
• Why are some students frequently shunned, ridiculed, or excluded?
• Why are some students physically or sexually harassed or abused?
• What are the traditional explanations for these problems?
• Are there alternative explanations that are more helpful?
• How could an interested person go about making changes that would
prevent these problems?
• Where would one start if they were interested in making positive changes?
• Of possible alternative changes, which would have the best effects with the
largest number of students at the least additional cost?
• Considering each of the different alternative approaches, what would their
benefits be to the school and its staff if taken?
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
4
Characteristics of Life History and the Environment Selectively Evoke Types of Emotions
Some of the major factors in teens’ environments and life histories that predispose them to be
vulnerable to specific kinds of feelings, emotions, and behaviors are listed below.
1. There are types of factors in the life histories of people that prime them to be, almost
continuously, in specific types of inner feeling states and to be prone to react with a narrow
range of specific types of emotions to precipitating situations. Parenting style is one of those
major factors:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Teens whose parents related to them with unconditional love,
Teens whose parents related to them with conditional love and were overly demanding,
Teens whose parents tended to reject them and were overly critical and punitive,
Teens whose parents deprived them and were overly restrictive,
Teens whose parents were overly indulgent and permissive,
Teens whose parents were overly protective,
Teens whose parents related to them in a childish way or seductive way,
Teens whose parents were dependent upon them as though the child was the parent,
Teens whose parents exploited them,
Teens whose parents neglected them and ignored them,
Teens whose parents had opposite parenting styles and were always fighting over each other’s approach.
2. Another set of factors is a dysfunctional family: broken homes with a weak or overworked single
parent or blended families, desertion, imprisoned parents, drug addicted parents, parents with
mental illness or mental retardation, parents away from home due to overwork, impoverished
homes, parents that are physically handicapped or ill, overly crowded homes with chronic chaos.
Consider how different the effects would be if a teen grew up with a history that was the opposite
of the above, in other words, in a home with the best of all advantages.
3. Another set of factors are derived from the structure and systems of the school the teen attends.
If a school has an educational system that actually generates groups that are favored versus
groups that are excluded from activities and groups that fail their courses, that school is also
creating a hierarchy of high status to low status, good to bad, accepted to rejected students that
results in an array of positive and healthy emotions through negative and destructive emotions.
These structural factors create mutually antagonistic cliques or gangs.
4. Finally, there is a set of factors that are related to growing up in neighborhoods with high crime
rates, drug infestation, severe ethnic conflicts, or are overcrowded as in the projects. These
factors tend to generate gangs. These factors will be taken up in Lesson 3.
5. Imagine how different the teen’s emotional vulnerability would be when growing up in
environments with each of these different kinds of sets of factors.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
5
Enduring Inner States of the Person in Relation to
Variations of Environmental Support and Threats
Enduring Positive Inner States Derived from
Supportive Positive Characteristics in the
Teen’s Environment:
Enduring Negative Inner States Derived from
Threatening Negative Characteristics in the
Teen’s Environment:
1. Sense of basic security: loved and cared for by family
and positively regarded at school
2. Sense of safety: family, school authorities, and police
provide visible, dependable protection
3. Self esteem and self respect: family, authorities, and
peers show positive regard for the teen as a person and
recognition for achievements as well as efforts
4. Self-concept: family, authorities, and peers attribute to
the teen a positive identity that is consistent with the
teen’s self concept
5. Optimism: family and authorities provide assurance of
support for the teen’s aspirations, goals, and vision of
their future
6. Sense of competence: family, authorities, and peers
positively acknowledge capacities and abilities as
regardless of current level of performance, encourage
using own judgment
7. Sense of belonging: family, authorities, and peers
provide a pervasive atmosphere of welcome and
inclusion throughout school and home and in the
neighborhood
8. Sense of equality: authorities and peers provide access
and opportunities to all without favoritism or prejudice
9. Sense of fairness: family, authorities, and peers
demonstrate objectivity in distributing justice, jobs,
goods, and rewards
1. Pervasive sense of basic insecurity: a hostile, rejecting,
chaotic, destructive home and family
2. Pervasive sense of impending danger: an impersonal,
disorganized, crowded, unsupervised, undisciplined school
and neighborhood
3. Pervasive sense of self as worthless refuse: family,
authorities, and peers that demonstrate disrespect, disregard,
and a lack of caring or concern
4. Pervasive identity as trouble and a reject: family, authorities,
and peers constantly deprecating, labeling, cursing, and
chasing off is incorporated into teen’s self-concept
5. Pessimism: family, authorities, and peers are constantly
discouraging and telling teen he will turn out bad and never
amount to anything
6. Confirmed sense of incompetence: family, authorities, and
peers telling him he cannot do it, is stupid, taking over task
and not training or teaching
7. Pervasive sense of being outcast: family, authorities and
peers constantly shunning and excluding and labeling as
unwanted, unpleasant, and even disgusting troublemaker
8. Sense of being not entitled to equality: authorities and peers
show prejudice, discriminate against, and prevent access to
opportunities
9. Sense of injustice: family, authorities, and peers peremptorily
accuse, blame, and punish, refuse equal distribution of jobs,
goods, and rewards without good reason
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
6
TRANSFORMATIONS of INNER STATES INDUCED by the
STRUCTURES of the HOME and the SCHOOL
1. Negative home environments induce enduring, negative inner states.
2. When students with enduring, negative inner states come to school, they are primed
to react negatively. When students with enduring, positive inner states come to
school, they are primed to react positively. Teachers tend to react negatively to
negative students and positively to positive students. These teacher reactions
intensify the negativity of negative students and the positivity of the positive students,
thus causing a vicious negative cycle for the negative and beneficial cycle for the
positive.
3. The non-academic school programs, like extra-curricular groups, student government,
etc., tend to draw the positive students and enhance their already positive traits, while
athletics tends to draw both negative and positive students if they are athletically
gifted.
4. The structure of the school’s academic and non-academic settings tends to create two
phenomena: divisions between included versus excluded students and achieving
versus failing students. The Settings for the included and achieving students induce
enhanced emotional and behavioral patterns except with respect to relations with the
excluded and failing students.
5. Excluded and failing students return home to face parental reactions that cause
enduring, negative inner states to become more negative, thus becoming an unwitting
collaborator with the school and together the net effect is in further increasing the
negative vicious cycle.
This Lesson is designed to help teachers, institutional staff, and parents to
understand these structural influences and how to reverse their negative effects.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
7
SCHOOL: SETTING CENTERED EMOTION TRANSFORMATIONS
Settings, circumstances, situations, and relationships
that differentially affect the emotions of teenagers
The Following Settings Represent the Structure of the School.
Each Setting Evokes Types of Situations.
Together They Exert Transformative Influences
1. Classroom
2. Hallways between classes: time limited, minimal supervision
3. Student government/student council
4. Lunch in the Cafeteria
5. Journey home after school adjourns for the day with various
modes of transportation
6. Extra-curricular groups: A small group of students meet for
special academic interest to discuss and plan and engage
in related activities.
7. Athletics after school
8. Evenings away from home
9. Home doing homework
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
8
Examples of types of situations are
presented in the following two slides
in order to prepare the viewer for
the more detailed analyses of each
type of setting and the types of
situations and types of emotions
and behaviors they evoke.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
9
Could something about the school structure and system
be contributing to these problems?
Is the approach using Rules and Punishments working?
Savage High School Rules
1.You cannot . . .
20.You cannot . . .
100.You cannot . . .
You will receive the following progression of
punishments for violations:
1.
2.
Could the school create programs and develop approaches
that would effectively address these problems?
Oh god!
Can’t wait to
get home.
Classroom troublemaker
FEELINGS!
What’s really on their minds in class!
Bully and bullied wimp on the run
Ha ha!
How
pathetic!
Loner in Hallway
In a secluded corner
between classes
I know you were kissing my
brother back in that corner.
You leave him alone or I will
tell the teacher!
Enemies start trading
insults in the cafeteria
Ah ha! So that’s the
right answer. Whew!
Now I can pass.
Casualty of Hallways Inferiority Complex
at Savage High
ridiculing others
Hey! Where is
our student
mediator?
These guys
are about to
fight.
Hey! Quit shoving me man or I’ll
knock the snot out of you!
Oh
yeah!
Then
meet
me after
school.
You
coward.
A Few Incidents On A Typical Day At Savage High
3/22/2016
Inferiority Complex
Class Clown
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
Proving they are Macho men
10
after the last bell.
How do these pressures from within school
carry over after they leave school for the day?
Could the school
He’s mine!
create programs and
develop approaches
Yeah! Let’s play a
Hey! There’s that
practical joke on him.
brainy kid on his
that would effectively
way home.
address these after
Uh oh!
school problems?
No! He’s mine! You
can’t have him!
FEELINGS!
Oh, we don’t associate with
her. She’s not a
cheerleader or drum major
like us. She’s a nobody.
Chaperoned at school dance - can’t wait
Yeah! I know what
until they go wild clubbing on their own.
you mean.
Super jocks after school
But I’m a Super jock! I’m entitled.
Stop,
stop!
You made one of my gang members
look bad at school and now you’re
going to get yours!
After feeling pent up, anxious, and
embarrassed all day at school now I’m
cruising hot, wild, and free after school
until …….!
Gang turf war in neighborhood
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
11
Major Teen Emotions and Feelings
With respect to the feelings and emotions listed on the next page,
some teens are more likely to feel many of them more often than the
average person and some teens are likely to feel many of them less often
than the average.
Furthermore, these emotions and feelings are likely to be
experienced more often in some types of settings and situations and less
often in other types of settings and situations.
In any given setting and the situations that are evoked there, one
teen may have the typical emotion that this type of setting and situation
tends to evoke and another teen may not have that emotion or may have a
very different emotion.
Recalling your own teen years, briefly indicate your experience
with these feelings and emotions on the following pages. For instance,
which ones did you tend to experience most often? Where and when did
you experience them? What types of situations were most likely to evoke
these frequently experienced emotions and feelings?
How did you usually deal with these feelings? How did fellow
students and the teachers tend to react if you acted on these feelings or if
they suspected what you were feeling?
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
12
Major Teen Emotions and Feelings
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.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
I often felt Anger
_______________________________
I often felt Hostility
_______________________________
I often felt Rage
_______________________________
I often felt Irritation
_______________________________
I often felt Annoyance
_______________________________
I often felt Impatience
_______________________________
I often felt Frustration
_______________________________
I often felt Edginess
_______________________________
I often felt Desire
_______________________________
I often felt Arousal
_______________________________
I often felt Craving
_______________________________
I often felt Lust
_______________________________
I often felt Love
_______________________________
I often felt Yearning
_______________________________
I often felt Ache
_______________________________
I often felt Longing
_______________________________
I often felt Happiness
_______________________________
I often felt Joy
_______________________________
I often felt Delight
_______________________________
I often felt Excitement
_______________________________
I often felt Ecstasy
_______________________________
I often felt Elation
_______________________________
I often felt Giddiness
_______________________________
I often felt Boredom
_______________________________
I often felt Gloominess
_______________________________
I often felt Despair
_______________________________
I often felt Sadness
_______________________________
I often felt Dejection
_______________________________
I often felt Hopelessness _______________________________
I often felt Resignation
_______________________________
I often felt Depression
_______________________________
I often felt Misery
_______________________________
I often felt Guilt
_______________________________
I often felt Shame
_______________________________
I often felt Embarrassment ______________________________
I often felt Remorse
_______________________________
I often felt Empty
_______________________________
I often felt Lost
_______________________________
I often felt Dazed
_______________________________
I often felt Audaciousness _______________________________
I often felt Daring
_______________________________
I often felt Impudence
_______________________________
I often felt Courageous
_______________________________
3/22/2016
44. I often felt Anxiety
45. I often felt Confusion
46. I often felt Dread
47. I often felt Fear
48. I often felt Panic
49. I often felt Hope
50. I often felt Anticipation
51. I often felt Inspiration
52. I often felt Motivation
53. I often felt Eagerness
54. I often felt Envy
55. I often felt Jealousy
56. I often felt Rivalry
57. I often felt Disgust
58. I often felt Resentment
59. I often felt Admiration
60. I often felt Worship
61. I often felt Adoration
62. I often felt Wary
63. I often felt Suspicion
64. I often felt Mistrust
65. I often felt Exclusion
66. I often felt Loneliness
67. I often felt Alienation
68. I often felt Abandoned
69. I often felt Arrogance
70. I often felt Superiority
71. I often felt Conceit
72. I often felt Vanity
73. I often felt Pride
74. I often felt Modesty
75. I often felt Humility
76. I often felt Shyness
77. I often felt Insignificance
78. I often felt Humiliation
79. I often felt Loss of face
80. I often felt Disgrace
81. I often felt Inferiority
82. I often felt Worthlessness
83. I often felt Sly
84. I often felt Devious
85. I often felt Sneaky
86. I often felt Shrewdness
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
13
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
3/22/2016
I often felt Anger
I often felt Hostility
I often felt Rage
I often felt Irritation
I often felt Annoyance
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
______________________
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
14
6.
7.
8.
3/22/2016
I often felt Impatience ________________________
I often felt Frustration ________________________
I often felt Edginess ________________________
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
15
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
3/22/2016
I often felt Lust
________________________
I often felt Desire ________________________
I often felt Yearning for a special person____________
I often felt Arousal ________________________
I often felt Craving ________________________
I often felt an Ache to touch someone _____________
I often felt Love
________________________
I often felt Longing to be loved ___________________
While in a class, school activity, the hallway, etc., teens
could be having any of the above feelings. Often these
feelings become so intense that they can no longer attend to
what is going on around them. Typically, they feel they must
keep these feelings to themselves. Sometimes, however,
they are moved to act on these feelings in public. Teens can
have these feelings for the same sex as well as the opposite
sex and can even have them for their teachers.
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
16
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
3/22/2016
I often felt Happiness
_______________________________
I often felt Joy
_______________________________
I often felt Delight _______________________________
I often felt Excitement
_______________________________
I often felt Ecstasy _______________________________
I often felt Elation _______________________________
I often felt Giddiness
_______________________________
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
17
24. I often felt Boredom _______________________________
25. I often felt Gloominess
________________________
26. I often felt Despair
_______________________________
27. I often felt Sadness _______________________________
28. I often felt Dejection _______________________________
29. I often felt Hopelessness
________________________
30. I often felt Resignation
________________________
31. I often felt Depression
________________________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
18
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
3/22/2016
I often felt Misery ____________________
I often felt Guilt
____________________
I often felt Shame ____________________
I often felt Embarrassment ______________
I often felt Remorse
_______________
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
19
37. I often felt Empty
_____________
38. I often felt Lost _________________
39. I often felt Dazed __________________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
20
40.
41.
42.
43.
3/22/2016
I often felt Audaciousness ____________________
I often felt Daring
________________________
I often felt Impudence
___________________
I often felt Courageous
__________________
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
21
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
3/22/2016
I often felt Anxiety
________________
I often felt Confusion _______________
I often felt Dread ____________________
I often felt Fear
____________________
I often felt Panic ____________________
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
22
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
3/22/2016
I often felt Hope _____________________
I often felt Anticipation ________________
I often felt Inspiration ________________
I often felt Motivation ________________
I often felt Eagerness ________________
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
23
54. I often felt Envy __________________
55. I often felt Jealousy _______________
56. I often felt Rivalry
______________
57. I often felt Disgust ______________
58. I often felt Resentment
__________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
24
59. I often felt Admiration
_______________________________
60. I often felt Worship
_______________________________
61. I often felt Adoration
_______________________________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
25
62. I often felt Wary
_______________________________
63. I often felt Suspicion
_______________________________
64. I often felt Mistrust
_______________________________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
26
65. I often felt Exclusion
_______________________________
66. I often felt Loneliness
_______________________________
67. I often felt Alienation
_______________________________
68. I often felt Abandoned
_______________________________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
27
69. I often felt Arrogance
_______________________________
70. I often felt Superiority
_______________________________
71. I often felt Conceit
_______________________________
72. I often felt Vanity
_______________________________
73. I often felt Pride
_______________________________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
28
44. I often felt Modesty
_______________________________
45. I often felt Humility
_______________________________
46. I often felt Shyness
_______________________________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
29
44. I often felt Insignificance
_______________________________
45. I often felt Humiliation
_______________________________
46. I often felt Loss of face
_______________________________
47. I often felt Disgrace
_______________________________
48. I often felt Inferiority
_______________________________
49. I often felt Worthlessness
_______________________________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
30
44. I often felt Sly
_______________________________
45. I often felt Devious
_______________________________
46. I often felt Sneaky
_______________________________
47. I often felt Shrewdness
_______________________________
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
31
The Classroom Setting
Aspects of the Classroom Setting:
Teacher in charge and optional teacher’s aid;
Performance measures of teacher;
Degree of formality of teacher;
Nature and character of school and in-class rules for acceptable behavior
and discipline procedures;
5. Teacher-student ratio;
6. Schedule with time strictures and in-class fixed-time routines;
7. Curriculum structure and pace;
8. Teaching strategies and in-class tasks;
9. In-class performance requirements of students;
10.Organization of students and types of student in-class roles;
11.Academic performance measures of students;
12.Deportment measures of students;
13.Homework learning tasks;
14.Policies for teacher-parent relations;
15.Special class events.
1.
2.
3.
4.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
32
Classroom Setting: Situations and Teacher Behaviors Evoke Typical Emotions
and Behaviors in Students with Positive versus Negative Inner States
Student Emotions and Behaviors Evoked
INNER STATE of Student : POSITIVE
NEGATIVE
Teacher Initiated Situations:
Giving Commands
Attentive, compliant
Resentment, slouching,
mumbling
Lecturing, reading
Attentiveness, determination,
Boredom, confusion, misery
note taking
sleeping, passing notes,
flirting
Explaining
Curiosity, arrogance,
Boredom, exclusion
questioning, giving opinion
daydreaming
Calling for recitation
Eagerness
Anxiety, staying out of sight
Correcting responses
Embarrassment, Shame,
Resentment, anger
Guilt
clandestine obscene
gestures
Approving/reinforcing responses Pride, delight, superiority
Surprise, embarrassment
Seeing approval of peer
Jealousy, rivalry, disgust
Resentment, inferiority,
denigrating peer
Interrogating, reprimanding
Guilt, shame, providing excuse
Anger; resentment, clowning
Pleading for obedience
Smugness, sympathy
Giddiness, excitement,
noncompliance, disrupting
Making threats
Annoyance, resentment
Anger, alienation, fear, backtalking
Motivating, encouraging
Hope, confidence
Dejection, worthlessness,
silliness
Giving exam
Anxiety, hope
Dread, hopelessness,
cheating, drowsiness
Assigning homework
Concentration, resignation
Gloominess, inferiority,
irritation
Dismissing class
Anticipation, exiting
Relief, excitement, bolting
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
33
Hallway Setting Between Classes
Structural Aspects of the Hallways between Classes:
• A brief, limited period of time is allocated for going from and to classes
• Lockers are provided for exchange of textbooks between classes
• A minimal amount of supervision is possible as a massive number of students are going in an
incalculable number of directions
SITUATIONS
EMOTIONS and BEHAVIORS
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH POSITIVE INNER STATES
Going to restroom;
Rushing, frustration, impatience,
Gathering books;
Confusion, reluctance, stress,
Greeting and catching up with friends;
Delight, giddiness,
Informing about school events;
Inclusion, pride, confidence, responsibility
Flirting;
Vanity, conceit, arrogance, shyness, humiliation,
Making sarcastic remarks;
Envy, jealousy, rivalry
Making dates;
Adoration, arousal, desire, anxiety, panic, dread,
Checking notes and homework before next class;
Ambition, competitiveness, perfectionism
Sharing information about teachers
Apprehension, cunning
and what to expect in next class;
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH NEGATIVE INNER STATES
Hiding;
Dejection, insignificance, worthlessness,
modesty, resignation,
Sharing homework or illicit test information,
Shame, guilt, embarrassment, slyness
or passing notes;
Ridiculing;
Disgust, Wariness, mistrust, suspicion, humility,
Hazing; fighting;
Exclusion, loneliness, alienation, abandonment,
Scheming to get someone;
Suffering, disgrace, loss of face, inferiority
Hazing and bullying;
Revenge, hate, meanness, sadism, cowardice
Counter-attacking;
Annoyance, revenge, anger, rage,
Trading and hiding weapons;
Aggression, roguishness, malicious glee,
Trading drugs
Cleverness, coolness, deviousness
Taking drugs or quick puffs on a cigarette
Turmoil, misery, guilt, lost-ness, despair, daze.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
34
Student Government
Setting Characteristics
STUDENT GOVERNMENT: Students discover what it means for the group to function as a democratic
organization. Students are elected by having nominees for offices make campaign speeches at the beginning of a year or
semester. The offices could be president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, sergeant of arms, and a fixed number of Council
members. Students running for office can hand out flyers, make posters to put in noticeable places, be on panels with one
another to answer questions from the student body, as well as stand in front of the student body and make a campaign speeches.
Elections are held by secret ballot. The elected student officers run the weekly student government meetings, with teacher
sponsors there to listen and facilitate as needed. A typical meeting consists of the following three parts.
1. OPENING AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The President brings the meeting to order and may ask a member to open
the meeting with a prayer and then welcomes current and new members, announces the meeting’s agenda, congratulates
students who have performed assigned tasks or earned awards, has the Secretary read the minutes from the last meeting, and
asks for any old and new business.
2. OPENING FOR DISCUSSION: The President asks if there are any current issues to discuss. The meeting is run
according to Roberts Rules of Order. The group members take turns speaking in an orderly and formal fashion. Issues discussed
can result in motions for rule changes, petitions, initiating projects, setting agendas for the semester, taking stands and adopting
statements on matters of policy or school-wide concerns, and the like. When a motion is made, it becomes open for debate.
When it seems consensus is reached, members can resolve to have the motion adopted. Motions have to have the approval of an
additional member which is called seconding the motion. A motion that is seconded is voted on. With a majority voting for the
motion, it is adopted and entered into the minutes as such. Often motions require tasks be carried out. Committees can be
assigned to accomplish the tasks and report back to the group on their progress. If petitions are adopted to be presented to the
school administration, those committee members report back to the group on the action taken by the administration. Occasionally,
petitions are circulated to the student body to get signatures for those who are for and against the petition.
3. ADJOURNMENT: The minutes from the current meeting are read and the group is asked if they are accepted. The
meeting may end with the President asking a member to deliver an inspirational message or prayer and then announces that the
meeting is adjourned.
This whole process introduces the student to an understanding and appreciation of the meaning of citizenship, gives
them a feeling of positive empowerment, and gives them a realization that they can be and are participants in a democratic
society. These students particularly learn a highly disciplined way to conduct meetings, hold discussions, resolve issues in the
group in a civil manner, ensure that fairness and democratic principles rule, be sensitive to problems in the student body and
school that need to be addressed, honestly and accurately represent the interests of their fellow students, and conduct themselves
as models of maturity, honesty, responsibility, intelligence, and propriety.
The students who become members of Student Government are usually those who are more intelligent, make better
grades, are more mature, are more socially skillful and outgoing, and have a strong, enduring, positive, inner state. These
students do not have the glamour attached to them in their role that athletes do and they do not garner that degree of attention
from other students. However, they are attributed high status and given respect by their peers. The characteristics of the
structure of Student Government, in contrast to athletics, has a distinctly positive influence on their behavior and personalities.
They must learn to consistently exhibit a wide range of positively valued social skills. They are the least likely of all students to get
into trouble or have problems. Elections can bring out some negative behaviors due to the need to compete and win over their
rivals. However, as they are on constant display, they either have to be masters of deception if they resort to unethical tactics, or
else they have to learn to appeal to conflicting audiences and yet maintain their integrity. This is like a crucible for testing and
developing character.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
35
Student Government
Structural Aspects Of the Student Government Setting Evoke:
EMOTIONS and BEHAVIORS
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH POSITIVE INNER STATES
articulation
happiness
courageousness
motivation
diplomacy
assertiveness
confrontation
competitiveness
cooperativeness
patience
discipline
openness
persuasiveness
understanding
considerateness
inspiration
anticipation
admiration
pride
concern
responsibility
empathy
trust
loyalty
diligence
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
36
Lunch in the School Cafeteria
Setting Characteristics
Typically students have lunch in shifts. Lunch is
served cafeteria style with a limited number of choices.
They quickly take their food and sit down at a table
with several other students to eat. Some students bring
their own lunches.
The lunch room is filled with students. There is
usually a minimum number of staff for supervision.
There is enough time to eat quickly with a few
minutes of free time before the bell for the next class.
Students are allowed to move about and interact
freely without interference.
Incidents of violence are interrupted by staff.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
37
Lunch in the School Cafeteria
Structural Aspects Of the Lunch In The School Cafeteria Setting
SITUATIONS
EMOTIONS and BEHAVIORS
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH POSITIVE INNER STATES
Going through cafeteria line
Sitting down and eating
Chatting in cliques
Admiring and including new members
Forming and switching alliances
Shunning, making sarcastic remarks
Criticizing, denigrating, gossip, and tattling
Informing about school events
Flirting and making dates
Helping, problem solving, and sympathizing
Studying.
Rushing, choosing, frustration, impatience,
Delight, giddiness, relief, relaxation
Vanity, conceit, attachment, security
Including, pride, confidence, responsibility
Envy, jealousy, rivalry, wariness, ambivalence
Superiority, conceit, exclusiveness, disgust
Arrogance, suspicion, maliciousness, elation
Pride, responsibility, anticipation, belonging
Adoration, arousal, desire, anxiety, dread
Superiority, competence, self-admiration, pity
Ambition, competitiveness, perfectionism, smugness
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH NEGATIVE INNER STATES
Swiping food
Sleeping
Bumming and loaning money
Crudeness and causing mishaps
Rudeness, vulgarity, ridiculing, and poking fun
Making threats and physical aggression
Scheming to get someone
Banter about persons of sexual interest
Sharing sexual exploits and fabrications
Sexual obtrusiveness or harassment
Confiding problems and fears
3/22/2016
Envy, desire, anxiety, audaciousness, slyness
Abandoned, worthless, lost, gloomy, fatigued
Impudent, shame, shrewd, resentful, humiliation, modesty
Belligerent, disdain, annoyance, inferiority, delight
Alienation, hostility, excitement, dejection, insignificance
Rage, frustration, guilt, hopelessness, fear, loss of face
Resentment, fear, disgrace, hostility, mistrust, devious
Devious, lust, longing, dread hope, shyness
Audaciousness, conceit, inferiority, shrewdness, disgust
Craving, impudence, hostility, resentment, dejection, misery
Wariness, embarrassed, humility, lost, despair, confusion
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
38
After School Adjourns for the Day
When high school adjourns in the afternoon, the youth disperse to many different
kinds of destinations and use many modes of transportation. Some youths are picked up by
parents. Some take school buses to their homes. Some youths walk to their homes,
neighborhood parks or sports playing fields, hangouts around stores and street corners, and
some to a peer’s home with or without parents or adults present. Some take their friends in
cars to these same places or to other after school activities and some just cruise around in
cars. Some even go to church sponsored after school activities. A few go to neighborhood
youth centers to participate in supervised activities. Finally, some remain at school for sports
practice and various types of extra-curricular activities and return home later in the evening
using the same modes of transportation as listed above.
Among the small groups that leave school together, some could be labeled as
gangs and others merely referred to as groups or cliques.
Dispersing after school is the most unstructured time of the day for the majority of
youths. The other unstructured time is in the evening at hangouts where the only adult
supervision is the occasional police car patrolling the area.
For those not in supervised activities and facing the least degree of structure of the
day, their suppressed desires and fears and their pent up residual emotions generated during
the school day are likely to erupt and result in impulsive acts with consequences that could be
harmful to others, themselves, and public and private property. Therefore, the time for the
greatest release of pent up emotions may be soon after school adjourns.
The next slide presents a comparison of reactions, in after school settings with their
characteristic structural factors or lack thereof, exhibited by students with positive inner states
versus negative inner states.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
39
After School Adjourns for the Day
Structural Aspects of the Time After School Adjourns
Situations
Emotions and Behaviors Evoked
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH POSITIVE INNER STATES
Walking home by one’s self eager, abandoned, embarrassed, irritated, fantasizing heroism, romance fantasies, inferiority
Walking home with a friends eager, excited, chat about school events/encounters, planning meeting, successes, hopes
Taking the bus
Picked up by parents
In peer’s car to home
excited, giddy, bold, chatting about peers attracted to, rivals, envy or disgust
bored, inhibited, tentative plans, requesting permission, asking about food, requesting info
excited, yearnings, gossip, rivals, disgust, attractive opposite sex, cloths/music/etc.
preferences/interests
Going to supervised activity engaging, encouraging, collaborating, happiness, pride, chatting about romance and school
incidents
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH NEGATIVE INNER STATES
Walking home by one’s self embarrassment, abandonment, loneliness, inferiority, revenge fantasies, yearning, despair
Walking home with a friends embarrassment, chatting about sports, music, girls, teachers, rivals, negative comparisons,
complaining, suspicions, hate
Taking the bus
excitement, taunting, sexually harassing, putting down, daring, cautioning, planning meeting
later
Picked up by parents
embarrassment, inhibited anger and resentment, lying about school day, arguing, begging
In peer’s car to home
anger eruption, wild driving, laughing, shouting, sharing smokes/dope, denigrating teachers
and rivals, planning evening’s taboo activities and how to avoid getting caught, revenge,
sexual exploits, fantasies about girls, boasting competence
Play in neighborhood park intense sports play, yelling, threatening, fighting, offensive flirting, boasting, belittling,
sharing smokes
Hanging out on street corner sharing smoke/dope/alcohol, recounting sexual exploits, harassing, boasting, belittling
teachers/rivals
Going to supervised activity seeking to bond, objecting, pleading, putting each other down, praising skill, telling peers’
school goofs
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
40
After School Extra-Curricular Groups
Setting Characteristics
The first characteristic of after school extra-curricular groups is that membership is typically based on interest in
subject matter of the group and joining is voluntary. Exceptions are the cases of those joining because of attraction to a member of
the opposite sex. At least one teacher, who teaches courses related to the group’s theme sponsors, and, most of the time, attends
the meetings. They typically meet once a week for an hour or two after school. They usually have an agenda that is based on
group consensus. Many have a major, public event for which they prepare performances, demonstrations, or individual or group
projects. Some even have tours or trips to other countries or sponsor exchange studies with other countries. These events may be
competitions in which projects are judged by experts. Some have successions of competitions at different levels like regional, state,
and even national with awards and publicity. Many schools have displays where is year an award was won are shown year round.
Each group differs in terms of how well organized they are and how much support they receive from the school administration.
Some schools are fortunate enough to be able to sponsor a large number of extra-curricular groups that are well supported by the
administration and community business and social organizations. Others are not so fortunate.
Some examples of types of extra-curricular groups are:
Science
Students Involved in These Groups Generally
Computers
Music: Voice And Instrumental
have Enduring, Positive, Inner States.
Agriculture
Non-varsity Sports
The Associated Emotions and Behaviors Are:
Drama
motivation
Arts
superiority
Human Services Volunteering
delight
Business [e.g. Junior Achievement]
eagerness
Dance, Musicals
exclusiveness
Languages
Spelling
curiosity
Intellectual Competitions
bonding
Peer Counseling
anticipation
Mediation
responsibility
Peer Tutoring
concern
Community Development Projects
cooperativeness
Government [e.g. Mayor For A Day, Judge For A Day]
competitiveness
Politics
fairness
Teen Court
In addition, there are non-school sponsored groups like
Boy and Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, and Church sponsored programs.
Theoretically, schools that have a large number of these types of groups that are actively supported should have fewer
problems with drugs, alcohol, delinquency, violence, weapons violations, suspensions and expulsions, drop-outs, emotionally
disturbed, failures, school phobias, ethnic conflicts, religious discrimination, or rejects of any kind. Increasing their number can
help. However, membership is usually limited to high performing, highly motivated students with enduring, positive, inner states.
This means that many students are not included in any group. It also means that the tendency of teens to exhibit status rivalries in
which members of such groups are seen as superior, favored, and privileged and non-members are, therefore, automatically by
definition of inferior status, will be a negative characteristic of the structure of the school’s system which negatively impacts these
non-included students who have enduring, negative, inner states. This negative, structural characteristic should be considered to
be the major cause of the problems listed above within a school’s student population. Addressing and finding ways to correct this
structural defect should dramatically decrease such problems even among students with enduring, negative, inner states.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
41
After School Athletics
Setting Characteristics
Athletics in the vast majority of high schools has unique structural characteristics. Youths are selected
on the basis of the athletic prowess alone except for the fact that in many schools athletes must be passing the
academic courses. Of course, these youths must also choose to participate and this indicates an ostensive
interest even though they may not be genuinely interested. This is so because, if a youth has athletic potential, it
is considered either disloyalty to the school or cowardice to not participate. This is the only voluntary school
activity where this is the case.
Selected youths represent a very small minority of the student body. Once the coach has officially
selected the team, they are given jackets to signify their membership. This is a visible sign recognized as high
status in the school and in the community. Wherever athletes go they are recognized as special. There are even
student rallies and business community banquets celebrating their special-ness and demonstrating support for
them. Their every move is subject of scrutiny and critique by fans almost as much as coaches. The school and
community counts on them to succeed and the moods of everyone rides a wild roller coaster of wins and losses.
Because of this ‘stardom’ they are envied, students fight to be their friends, and rivalries spring up over
the privilege to be their friend and romantic partner. Their own status as an athlete and the school’s status, and
even community’s status, dependence on their success tends to give these stars a sense of immunity from
requirements and moral prohibitions imposed upon non-athlete students. For example, if they bully someone or
are sexually predatory, onlookers and even authorities are likely to laugh it off.
These youths have to practice long and hard, often into the evening and even Saturdays. This leaves
them little time for studies or even much of a social life. They are in the peak of physical shape for strength and
endurance. The roughness of sports tends to make them more aggressive in other settings. Sports are
theoretically supposed to teach young men sportsmanship which entails a relatively high level of maturity and
ethical principles. However, when there is such an extreme emphasis on winning, many coaches, as well as
supporters in the community, encourage them to learn how to act on the playing field in highly un-sportsmanship
ways, pushing to the limits, and if possible just beyond, of what the regulations allow without getting caught.
When you combine these factors and put them in unsupervised party situations, they are primed to be dominant
and use force to get their way and put down rivals.
Many athletes develop the feeling, as a result of this structure, that they can do as they please with
impunity. When this assumption is tested, it is often confirmed. This structure evokes a formula that says, “If I
succeed as an athlete and keep up appearances, I can expect others to worship me, give me special privileges,
give me a break in academics, and look the other way if I am caught in something illegal or unethical.
Therefore, the characteristics of this structure tend to produce aggressive, narcissistic personalities
with bravado, social ease, and finesse or charm; while their belief systems are covertly bordering on moral
psychopathy. Only youths with strong, enduring, positive inner states can withstand the overwhelming, pervasive
influence of the negative characteristics of the structure of school athletics.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
42
After School Athletics
Structural Aspects of the Athletic Practice, After School Setting
SITUATIONS
EMOTIONS and BEHAVIORS
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH POSITIVE INNER STATES
Encouraging and motivating team mates;
enthusiasm, mutual trust, eagerness, bonding
Planning plays;
concentration, motivation, anxiety, determination
Executing plays;
daring, aggression, motivation, trust, exhilaration,
Recounting personal good and bad plays;
pride, elation, humiliation, anger, impatience
Exercise to push physical limits;
motivation, determination, stress, vanity, rivalry
Grand-standing;
vanity, superiority, rivalry, delight
Sharing information about coaches;
anxiety, admiration, resentment, wary, loss of face
Recounting team victories and losses;
rivalry, elation, gloom, dejection, pride, disgrace
Sharing information about other teams;
worry, arrogant, anxiety, determined, hope, daring
Comparing positive and negative fan opinion; ecstasy, dejected, resentment, gratitude, confusion
Planning for dates and going out evenings; yearning, excited, conceit, shrewdness, daring
Discussing girls and sexual encounters;
admiration, lust, respect, resenting, insinuations
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH NEGATIVE INNER STATES
Discussing girls and sexual exploits;
Planning sexual exploits;
Planning aggression and retribution;
Gossiping;
Intimidating, razzing, hazing each other;
Complaining;
Finding ways to get out of exercise;
3/22/2016
lust, deviousness, disrespect, gloating, inferiority
deviousness, lust, craving, impudence, rivalry
hostility, resentment, audaciousness, arrogance
suspicion, mistrust, insignificant, sneaky, glee
conceit, rivalry, annoyance, impatience, anxiety
inferior, stressed, misery, resentment, frustration
humiliation, dread, shame, hopeless, alienation
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
43
Evenings at Home
Structural Aspects of the Settings Characteristic of Students at Home in the Evenings
Situations
Emotions and Behaviors Evoked
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS
WITH POSITIVE INNER STATES
Routine assigned chores
Cooking
Dinning
Cleaning dishes
Lounging with friends
Doing homework
Using computer for homework
Using computer for chats with friends
Using computer for personal interests
Watching TV, listening to music
Telephone talk topics with friends:
Compliance, reluctance, boredom
Turn taking, careful performance
With family, discussions
Compliance, bored, dutiful
Chatting, excited, vanity
Compliance, conscientious, ambitious
Enthusiasm, curiosity, creativity
Excitement, cleverness, competence
Curiosity, creativity, sophistication
Enchanted, romantic, heroic, happy
comparing same sex friends and peers
planning fun things to do
sharing preferences, idols, heroes
evaluating parents’ traits
fantasies about opposite sex
complaints about parents
sharing plans for future
In own room, secluded, daydreaming pleasant, romance, winning, anticipating
Engaging in autoeroticism
longing, fantasizing ideal, ecstasy
Fighting with siblings
rivalry, annoyance, embarrassment
Arguing with parents
impatience, resentment, impudence
Engaging in hobbies
curiosity, concentration, pride, cleverness
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS
WITH NEGATIVE INNER STATES
Defiance, resentment, sabotage
For self, neglected, careless, non-nutritious
By self, abandoned, dejected
Neglect, impatience, irritation, non-compliance
Negative, yearning, envy, gloomy, suspicious
Frustrated, inferiority, procrastination, quitting
Fear, confusion, stupidity, avoidance
Avoidance, disdain, embarrassment, retarded
Retarded, not cool, embarrassment, envy
Rebellious, heroic, macho, cool, elated
denigrating same sex friends and peers
fantasies about opposite sex
complaints about parents
contriving ways to break rules
contriving ways to cheat in school
planning things to do, plots, revenge, devious
sharing suspicions, pessimism, envy
despair, empty, gloomy, revenge, hate, lonely
shame, hostility, abandonment, lust, craving
frustration, rage, envy, humiliation, mistrust
rage, resentment, alienation, defiance
edginess, confusion, boredom, hopelessness
44
Evenings Away From Home
Structural Aspects of the Settings Characteristic of Students Out on the Town in the Evenings
MORE COMMON TO STUDENTS WITH POSITIVE INNER STATES
While the majority of youth are at home at night during the school days, there is a sizable percentage
that are out on the town. Youth within any given community have favorite haunts. Some hang out in the parking
lot around convenience stores, some around fast food restaurants, some on streets, and other such places where
there is some lighting and they are not likely to be run off by proprietors, neighbors, or police. They typically buy
cigarettes, sodas, and snacks. Some are able to get alcoholic drinks and drugs which they share with one
another. Many have curfews but some stay out until two or three o’clock. Some who are not allowed out will
sneak out after their parents have gone to sleep.
Since there is no adult supervision, this is the least structured Setting they can be in. As such, this is
the time and place for them to act out their pent up feelings. Here, their emotions become intense and their
behavior wild. This is a place where they can release their need to rebel against their parents and against the
frustrating demands and restrictions of school. In the cloak of night, with no one to restrain them, they can
express their need for revenge for being treated like a reject, for being excluded by more favored peers, turned
away by those in charge of selecting participants in high status activities like sports, failed and disciplined by
teachers, stopped and reprimanded or even arrested by police, and scorned by merchants. Now they can
displace their rage by going to excess in defying those restrictions and railing against resented treatment by all
sorts of authorities. Among themselves, they can ridicule and poke fun at peers who attacked or humiliated them.
They can look for someone to attack physically as they were emotionally or physically attacked in school. They
can even engage in fights. Even the girls can occasionally become physically violent. They can yell and scream,
shout curses, act obnoxious to outsiders, throw things, race their cars and screech their tires. They can break
loose from prohibitions against seeing certain persons of the opposite sex and break taboos by indulging in
making out without inhibition. Occasionally a group of privileged male youths, such as athletes, will show up at
these settings to harass and intimidate their ‘inferiors’ and even engage in battles with them or challenge them to
risky contests like drag racing.
Those youths with enduring positive inner feelings and grounded security do not show up at these
places because their needs and behavior patterns do not include such rebellion, defiance, acting out, and release
of pent up rage and frustration. Most of these youths would find such occasions frightening. When they hear
about such wild evenings and violent and illegal acting out the next day at school, they become even more
disapproving. distant, and alienated from youths known to have participated and their associates.
This creates an unbridgeable chasm and forms an unspoken caste system. This caste system is
invisible and is created by the structural characteristics of the visible structures and settings that exclude, degrade,
stigmatize, and neglect such a large percentage of students and relegate them as outcasts to a kind of social hell
and doomed destiny.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
45
THE EFFECTS OF DEGREES OF CONTROL AND THREAT IN THE STRUCTURE OF AN ENVIRONMENT ON
THE TYPE AND DEGREE OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION:
Highly Repressive Structures Mean Suppressed Negative Emotions Are Restrained.
Permissive Structures Unleash Suppressions.
Optimal Structures Cause Positive Transformations.
Repressed
behavior,
feelings,
fantasies,
&
inner
tension
Channeled,
positive behavior
Uninhibited,
negative behavior:
Private, primitive
impulses dominate
LO structure
3/22/2016
MED structure with
Positive Avenues
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
HI structure with
strict restrictions
46
FACTORS INVOLVED IN THE STRUCTURE OF A SCHOOL SYSTEM
Factors That Can Be Altered to Produce an Optimal Structure for All Students
Repressive
Structural Factors
OPTIMAL
Restrained
Stars
DYSCORPORATED
and
DESIRES
Stripes
FEARS
STRUCTURE
Unleashed
Permissive
Structural Factors
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
47
ENCOMPASSING
STRUCTURE-CENTERED TRANSFORMATIONS
of SETTINGS within the SCHOOL SYSTEM
If we examine the foregoing Settings, the kinds of situations they tend to evoke, and
the kinds of emotions and behaviors that students with positive versus negative
enduring inner states experience, what can we do:
a.
b.
c.
to reduce the occurrence of negative types of situations,
to shift negative inner states toward positive, and
to evoke more positive emotions and behaviors?
Altering Structural Factors for Transformative Processes:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Restructuring the chain of command and the job functions within the chain.
Rearranging the places where Settings occur and other structural factors common to each
type of Setting or Activity.
Inventing and distributing new types of roles and providing Settings for new relationships and
repair old negative relationships.
Inventing new types of tasks for the participants in the various Settings and Activities.
Providing the conditions within each Setting and Activity in which positive modes of
expression can be learned, evoked, and shared for all participants.
Restructure the organization of and interrelationship among all Settings and Activities and
their participants, paying particular attention to scheduling or time allocation and adding
functions that cut across and integrate all Settings, Activities, and their participants.
Introduce increased integration of the school’s entire System, its Settings, Activities, students,
parents, and staff, with appropriate components of the surrounding community.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
48
Suggestions for Restructuring the School’s Structure, Systems, and Settings
to Evoke Positive Situations and Positive Feelings and Behavior
• Give the student government the responsibility for putting all extra-curricular groups and school athletics on the
computer. List the sponsors and members of each group. List each group’s meeting times and places and their mission,
objectives, and agenda of events for the year.
• Publicize information on all groups at the beginning of each year. Have the Student Government coordinate a campaign
at the beginning of the year in which each group engages in a membership drive. Set as an objective to leave no student
unaffiliated with a group.
• Assign each veteran group member the role of buddy to a new member.
• Have each group’s teacher sponsor and the group members find a community organization or business, whose focus is
similar to the group, to act as their community sponsor. Negotiate to allow the group to meet periodically on the
premises of their sponsor.
• Each group should develop projects early in the year to be completed before the end of the year. Have the members try
to develop projects that utilize the concepts taught in class. Present their projects to their class, to the entire student
body, and to their community sponsor. Publicize these events to all concerned parties, including parents to ensure
maximum attendance.
• Provide the members of each group identifying insignia to be worn on identifying shirts or hats. Each group member
should have a way to identify the nature of their group, their rank in the group if relevant, and any additional awards so
that they have immediate recognition value.
• Provide a training program, throughout the school year, to train teachers as situational maturity coaches. An objective of
this training could be to reduce incidents, avoid disciplinary action, and assist the youths’ growth in maturity.
• Use homeroom time for an interpersonal cohesion group so that all students in the class can become personally familiar
with each other and their ethnic backgrounds. Allow the time and process for students to express and resolve
interpersonal misunderstandings.
• Provide parent training throughout the school year and make the schedule so that it accommodates the schedules of all
parents.
• Have the parents of students be paired, as parent surrogates, with students who are not their own children in order to
attend parent-teacher conferences, while their own children meet with parent surrogate instead of the own parent. As
teenagers are attempting to emancipate from their parents, parent-teacher conferences with them tend to be un- or
counter- productive. If possible, have someone from their group’s community sponsor attend that meeting also.
• Have Student Government quantify their performance measures of success for the year’s overall extra-curricular
program. Have them present their statistics for degree of success to the student body at year’s end. Have them also
make this presentation to the School Board and the Chamber of Commerce. Include statistics on the number of school
drop outs and expulsions for the year. Publish their statistics on the school as a whole and each group in an end of
school year bulletin and distribute it to all families and community sponsors.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
49
WORKING WITH STUDENTS IN A RE-DESIGNED STRUCTURE:
POSSIBLE PERSON-CENTERED EMOTION TRANSFORMATIONS WITHIN
OPTIMAL STRUCTURES
Gaining emotional awareness, detecting, and transforming
raw, dysfunctional emotions into mature, authentic feelings
and overcoming the enduing, negative, inner states
Developing differential ways of treating and programming for youth with
enduring, positive inner states versus enduring, negative inner states
1. Assessing primitive positive and negative emotions through the use of a
‘Setting by Situation by Person’ approach in relation to goals of transforming
youths’ enduring inner states in a positive direction
1. Detecting Settings and Situations that provoke or evoke negative emotions and
feelings.
2. Unmasking pseudo-incorporated emotions and detecting disincorporated
emotions.
3. Transforming pseudo-incorporated and disincorporated emotions back to their
original primitive states.
4. Restructuring perceptions of situations and refining of the related feelings and the
verbal expressions of those feelings as well as the related behavioral reactions.
5. Transformation of perceptions, emotions, and behaviors through coaching within
the restructured Settings.
6. Following the above path and assisting youth in refining feeling-expression
patterns toward mature authenticity in reacting to situations and expressing
feelings verbally and behaviorally
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
50
Movies to Accompany This Lesson and Be Discussed in Group
Focus Concept When Viewing the Movie:
Dealing with students with enduring positive versus negative inner states by analyzing
different types structures and settings and re-designing for optimal structures
•
•
•
•
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 concepts in the lesson:
Riding in cars with boys
Lord of the Flies
Lean on Me
Dangerous Minds
While viewing the movie of your choice, look for how the school
structures and the characteristics of the various settings impact the
youths’ emotions, behavior, and personalities. Consider how you might
alter the characteristics of settings to evoke more positive emotions
and behavior.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
51
Homework Exercises for Administrators, Teachers, Staff, Parents, and Counselors:
For each of the topics below, talk with a different youth about school related settings, how they feel about
them, and whether they have a positive or negative influence on them and, if so, why. Do the same with
teachers. Remember to make your questions open-ended and make notes of what they said.
• Ask a student if they are in any athletic or extra-curricular activity. If they are, ask why, what do they get out of it, how does it
make them feel, and in what ways they might have changed as a result of being a member. If your first subject is a member,
then next try to find a student who is not a member of any activity and ask them why they are not. Ask how it makes them feel
and what are the consequences of not being a member of anything. Ask if there is any group they think they might like to belong
to and, if they say yes, ask what prevents them from trying to join.
• Select several students during lunch time in the cafeteria. Select one that is with a group of obvious friends. Select one that is
by themselves. See if you can spot one that is being mistreated in some way. With each, ask them how they feel about the
lunch period and ask why they feel that way. If they give a negative answer, ask what happens to them during lunch time that
makes it unpleasant for them.
• Select a student who is in the Student Government and ask them how they feel about being a member and how it makes them
feel about themselves. Ask what they think about the school, what they see as problems, and what they would change if they
could.
• Select a student in the Hallway between classes that seems happy and purposeful and ask them what they think about the way
things are during this time. Ask why they think this is the case. Select a student that seems to be having negative feelings and
them what they think about the ways things are during this time, how they feel about it, and why.
• Select a student whom you know to be a model student in Class and is making good grades. Ask them how they feel about and
what they think of their classes and teachers in general. Ask why they feel that why and why they have those opinions. Select a
student whom you know is thought of as a trouble-maker and who is doing poorly in their courses. Ask them how they feel about
and what they think of their classes and teachers in general. Ask why they feel that why and why they have those opinions.
• Randomly choose several students and ask them where they go after school, how they get home, and what it is like on the way
home. Ask if anything unpleasant happens on the way home or they have ever gotten in trouble after school on the way home or
before going home. Ask them to try to explain to you why things happen that way. If they have bad experiences after school and
on the way home, ask what could make it better.
• Ask one student whom you think is doing well and one who is doing poorly what is it like at home in the evening. Ask them what
effect this has on them doing their homework and making their grades.
• Find a student whom you know goes out a lot on school nights. Ask why they go out. Ask what it is like, what they do, and if
they have ever gotten in trouble or been pressured into doing something they thought was bad.
• Ask one teacher whom you know to have a good reputation and one teacher known to have a bad reputation how they feel about
teaching. Ask them what they see as problems in being a teacher. Ask them to describe one good student and one poor student
and ask what makes one a good and the other a bad student.
• Ask each of the above teachers what, if they could, would they change about their job and about the school and ask why they
think these suggestions would make a difference.
• Share the results of your interviews with your training group members.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
52
For Additional Presentations on School Reform for Improving Learning
and Preventing Violence, See and Click the Hyperlink Below.
http://dredyoung.com/schoolviolence/School%20Violence%20-%20Analysis%20and%20Solutions.htm
Endnote:
1. For those interested in the theory behind the Natural Systems Approach, this
lesson is a good example of
1. the way external structural factors influence dyadic interaction and individual's
personalities and
2. the part inner processes of the person contribute to dyadic interaction.
2. Settings pull for types of situations and situations involve dyadic interaction.
3. Settings usually have roles. Over time, the pull of the Setting and its roles tend to
overrule and supplant negative inner processes as the individual interacts in the
dyadic interaction elicited by Setting-specific roles and situations.
3/22/2016
Copyright by Edwin L. Young, PhD, 7/1997
53