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This paper discusses the American educational system as a quiet and nondeliberate destroyer of the adolescent's spirit in terms of stifling the development of cognitive, social, cultural, and intellectual growth. This phenomenon has been produced by the content, structure, and teaching methodology used in schools, beginning with fourth grade and continuing throughout junior and senior high schools, and into undergraduate university programs. Problem areas highlighted are: (1) a static academic curriculum with little relevance to the real world, (2) a rigid and inflexible policy of school operation based on a model of managerial efficiency, and (3) an attitude of distrust and hostility toward the student body. The paper concludes that if the student is not helped to become aware of himself as an individual, through education, the educational apparatus is merely grooming slaves and conditioning them to accept whatever conditions of life happen to come their way. (CS)

This paper defines a useful strategy for therapists working with adolescents which includes: (1) a general model of the group leader's responsibilities and (2) a cataloguing of some of the specific impediments for both adolescent peers and the therapist that prevent effective communication. The goal of the group therapy is to identify the specific impediments and distorted transference relationships. Unlike conventional leaders the group therapist makes no bid for power. He searches out the silent and negative members spontaneously and, at the same time, is concerned with the group as an effective growing unit. The problems encountered in this context are those of peer transference and leader countertransference as barriers to effective communication. Some transference themes described are: attitudes toward authority and peers; acting out; silence; and somatization or the technique of handling stress by somatic symptoms. Conversely, countertransference reactions of therapists are listed: omnipotence; fear of self-disclosure; overidentification with the adolescent; or somatization and blind spots, i.e., the therapist becomes alerted to his own anxiety or depression by symptoms such as headaches, flushing, nausea, cramps. In summary, the paper presents a general model of the effective group therapist and his major responsibilities for both cognitive and positive emotional leadership. (Author/RJ)

The struggle for self discovery is the major task of adolescent development. That struggle can be magnified by certain psychosocial forces which retard such ego identity development. American Indians share a centuries old, psychohistorical experience of massive disenfranchisement, powerlessness, and enforced dependency. Its symptomatic legacy is family disintegration, unemployment, alcoholism, and other suicidal behavior. For American Indian adolescents, who see such manifestations in their parents and tribes, it often triggers an unusually stormy adolescent struggle. The anticipated alienation, disorientation, and confusion of adolescence becomes magnified in the face of such negative identifications. This paper outlines a small group experience and the issues with which these young people deal, its efficacy and outcome. (Author)

An introduction to a symposium on the development of adolescent schooling is followed by one of several presentations concerning current thinking about the problems involved in developing experimenting schools. The paper elaborates the basic propositions about modernization, the process of school reform seen as a process of social learning, and the methods of evolutionary experimentation. It is proposed that the school as a whole, conceived as a developing social organism, be taken as an experimental proposition to be shaped and reformed through methods of evolutionary experimentation. The goal of this experimentation, and the criterion for it, is to discover and to operate schools which can facilitate learning by adolescents who are in charge of their own learning processes and cope successfully with the problems and opportunities they confront. It is felt that modernization permits, as well as demands, that attemps be undertaken to learn what schools might become. In conclusion, it is noted that to discover how to make schooling facilitative and supportive of the development of the young, it is essential to consider school as an experimental proposition. (Author/KSM)

The use of reciprocal behavior contracts with families of behavior-problem adolescents was investigated. Most family contracting to date has involved one-way contracts; that is, the child agrees to certain responsibilities for which he will be reinforced by the parents. A reciprocal contract requires the parents, in addition to the child, to agree to certain responsibilities (or behaviors) in exchange for which the child offers reinforcers to the parents. This novel form of contracting has arisen from serious consideration of the interaction process as analyzed by Thibaut and Kelly (1959) and Patterson (Neuringer & Michael, 1971). The theoretical frame of Thibaut and Kelly suggests that dyadic interactions are reciprocal and that the rewards of the interactions are based upon the responses of both persons not just one. Patterson's theory also stresses this reciprocity; in addition, his clinical work notes that to maintain parent behavior of reinforcing children for positive behavior, the parent in turn needs reinforcement from the children. In addition to presenting this theoretical framework for a new orientation to contracting with families of adolescents, the paper presents three pilot case studies. Problems with this procedure and suggestions for implementation are discussed. (Author)

This paper traces the development of interpersonal skills and characterizes the essential features of social interaction as they change from infancy to adolescence. It is demonstrated that, at each life stage, the quality of social relationships is dependent on the person's capacity for interpersonal closeness, his ability to use language, and his cognitive maturity. The developments of the six life stages are discussed. During infancy, rudimentary social skills and an underlying sense of being emotionally connected with people are established. The expressiveness or retentiveness of speech and a general level of abstractness of speech are dominant characteristics of toddlerhood. Egocentrism decreases and language skills increase in significance during early school age. Middle school age brings an awareness of behavior norms and an increasing capacity for compromise. During early adolescence, an upsurge in egocentric concern is evident in regard to self-presentation; cognitively, there is a growth in conceptual skills characterized by the development of formal thought. Finally, in late adolescence, the individual's personality is consolidated enough to produce an integrated interpersonal style which communicates basic personal needs and social attitudes. (SDH)

Drug education is conceptualized as a socialization process, particularly as it is related to assuming the adult role. The effectiveness of two processes of social influence, expert power and referent (modeling) power, were measured in three different age groups-early adolescence, middle adolescence, and adulthood-in a drug education program. Learning of factual information and attitude change served as dependent variables. Results indicated strong age--specific effects. Expertise was most effective with adults, modeling most effective with early adolescents. Relationships between effectiveness and age level were monotonic. Implications are drawn for the study of adolescence, the study of attitude change, and the design of drug education programs. (Author)

Although attention should be drawn to the fact that girls in children's and adolescent fiction are stereotyped, it seems more serious that boys in such literature are far too often stereotyped as attaining manhood by a violent act against an animal--whether a pet or wild--or against other aspects of the natural world. Of greater impact are those books in which both evil, symbolized by animals, and nature, represented as alien to man, are forces against which a young man must pit himself. In contrast, few books portray the acceptance by a young boy that to become a man, he must face the trouble within himself rather than externalizing it. Teachers should emphasize this point, affirming that violence and destruction are not necessary steps to manhood. (JM)

The research studied adolescents' opinions of and attitudes toward police. Answers to the following questions were sought: (1) Do sex differences in appraisals of policemen continue into the senior year of high school? (2) Is there a significant relationship between how students perceive police and how they have been treated by policemen? (3) Is there congruence between adolescents' appraisal of policemen and their appraisals of school authorities--teachers and administrators? Four hundred and nineteen high school seniors in San Jose, California responded to three questionnaire items asking for an evaluation of police fairness. The students were also asked if they had ever been in a situation in which they had felt unjustly treated by a policeman and/or by teachers and other school authorities. Findings showed that: (1) Girls continue to rate policemen more favorably than do boys. (2) Those treated unjustly by a policeman had a poorer opinion of policemen. (3) There is congruence between adolescents' appraisal of policemen and their appraisals of school authorities. (Author/RM)

Many of today's teenagers are sexually experienced but lack the knowledge they need to avoid the emotional and physical problems resulting from unwanted pregnancy and veneral disease. With this fact in mind, a study was conducted in collaboration with the Planned Parenthood League Inc., of Detroit in order to generate specific content-oriented data in the area of evaluating sex education programs for teenagers. A sex knowledge questionnaire was administered to a sample of female teenagers before they attended an educational rap session and again approximately 10 weeks later. The results indicate that the education session provided a good deal of information which was retained over time. Detailed results are presented which show whether the teens knew, did not know, or were misinformed about each item, and knowledge scale scores are presented for various subgroups of the sample. (Author)

The development of a modularized program for secondary educational psychology students at the University of Colorado is reviewed. The beginning stages and prototype produced are described, but emphasis is on the revision of the first system. Changes in the course, covering both educational and adolescent psychology, include expansion of the number of modules, addition of contract and consultation procedures, and revision of the course overview and instructor manual. A brief analysis is made of the decision to turn down other presently available systems for a newly devised modular system. The latter part of the review deals with the characteristics of the program and development problems encountered. Basic module structure, which includes a management sequence, set of objectives, student study guide, and evaluation procedures, is outlined. Proposed revisions include changes in the required module load, strategies to broaden student learning experiences, and addition of lectures. (Author/KSM)

The document tested the level of generalization of a recent conclusion from past research (see ED075156) on nonmetropolitan (NM) south and southwest Texas Mexican American teenagers: that these youths have predominantly high and strong status aspirations and expectations. Earlier findings on NM Mexican American youth supported Merton's thesis that all types of youth have high aspirations for upward social mobility. This questioned much of the speculative assertion that Mexican Americans suffered impediments to social mobility due to low achievement aspirations derived from the patterns of values and beliefs linked to their subculture. Data were gathered from 2 separate studies of Texas Mexican American youth completed in the past 6 years: a 1967 study of NM youth in south Texas (Kuvlesky, Wright, and Juarez, 1971) and a study of El Paso youth (Venegas, 1973). Differences between NM and metropolitan (M) respondents were found to be statistically significant for both boys and girls relative to specific educational and occupational status projections types for both aspirations and expectations. In addition, statistically significant differences existed between the 2 samples of Mexican American youth in reference to intensity of education aspiration and certainty of attainment of expected occupational attainment. Statistical data is presented in 12 tables. (KM)

The institution called the "junior high" was established in response to an accumulation of dissatisfaction with the education and with the socialization of the age group termed the "middle child", children in the 11th or 12th year through the 14th year. However, serious rethinking of the entire 7-12 sequence now needs to be undertaken. Studies are currently underway in at least nine Northeastern and Middle Atlantic States, generated in part by the pressure of accountability and cost effectiveness efforts, aimed at some basic questions concerning what it is any high school graduate should know and know how to do, at a very minimum, and the identification of some of the best new and old ways of getting him there--in or out of school. The standard junior high school should be abolished and, in its stead, three years of planned real work experiences should be established. The three years of work should roughly correspond to the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades and the tasks that would change over that period of time. Entering students, the equivalent of 7th graders, should be divided into work teams of no more than six young people, to work under the direction of and receive direction from a term leader. The conventional 36-week school year should be divided into four 9-week terms, each term to contain six weeks of "work" and three weeks of intellectual, aesthetic, and physical education activities. (Author/MLF)

Traditionally, drug abuse education in the public schools has been approached through the use of scare tactics and scientific data. This document suggests that the old methods are not workable, and therefore attention should be directed toward helping the child develop a good self-concept and teaching decision-making skills. In the You and Your Decisions project, written audiovisual and workshop materials were developed to help parents and teachers create an environment in which a child can learn about the decision-making process. An inservice training program was developed to motivate the teacher to provide a decision-making atmosphere in the classroom. Student materials emphasized the importance of a good self-concept and how it applies to the decision-making process. The parent component stressed the importance of the child's right to make certain decision which affect him in his family situation. Good decision-making skills were viewed as helpful not only in preventing drug abuse, but in helping children deal more effectively with other temptations and frustrations in life. (Author/PC)

A literature study by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement revealed that as a result of instruction from their teachers, students at the end of junior high are well on their way to narrowing their perceptions of appropriate responses to a literary work to those which can be characterized as formal, analytic, and impersonal. This situation should be corrected so that students achieve a truer view of what the literary experience can be. In order to do this, teachers need to develop a method of literary inquiry directed to the reader's subjective experience with the work as well as to the work itself. And, in doing this, such abstract criteria as adequate theme, lively plot, memorable characters, and distinctive style would be set aside in favor of restoring reader response as a determining factor in the worth of a literary work. (JM)

The purpose of this study was to determine the various ways in which audience members recall and quantify messages coming through the different media. The data presented here were collected during the course of a panel study into the social context of mass media use. The measurement and analytic techniques are exploratory. The respondents were adolescents, sampled from two midwestern cities on a geographic probability basis. The study was partially successful in utilizing multidimensional scaling to represent earlier chi-square analysis, and other dimensions and configurations for characterizing the media were discovered. The findings of the study are presented in both table and narrative form. (RB)

Four basic objectives were investigated in this study. Age differences were tested on various dependent skills measured to determine if consumer skills change over a period of time; the extent of integration of the dependent measures within the two age groups was ascertained; antecedent processes within groups that account for variation in consumer skills were sorted out; and some possible logical causal links between antecedent, intervening, and dependent variables were examined. The subjects for this study were 132 public middle school and 180 high school students in a predominantly rural area. The students were asked a number of questions about their own financial resources and the sources of these funds. Neither group of adolescents scored very high on price accuracy, slogan recall, or intrafamily communication about consumption, although brand specification was fairly high and the various dependent measures were well integrated among both groups. The relatively low level of consumer skills may indicate that the adolescent is not provided with learning opportunities and appropriate modeling experiences from parents, teachers, and other socialization agents. (RB)

The basic hypothesis of this paper is that problems in separation-individuation in infancy and/or adolescence may result in difficulties in utilizing learning skills. Furthermore, it is emphasized that the two periods of separation-individuation, while similar in many ways, have their own unique qualities and resolutions. Three case histories are presented to illustrate the basic hypothesis: The first discusses a 14-year-old male adolescent who exhibited lack of motivation and mediocre performance in school and points out the implications in the psychodynamics of his case. The second discusses a problem that originated in difficulties encountered in the first separation-individuation period even though the precipitating symptomatology was not evidenced until adolescence. The third case illustrates the fact that the individuation problems can be prominent in both developmental phases of infancy and adolescence. (WR)

The relationship between field-dependence and cultural biases towards control and discipline practices was explored. It was hypothesized that the strict control practices described for the Cuban culture would foster greater field-dependence in their adolescents than would the practice of a U. S. born group. Seventy-two Cuban and U. S. born adolescents were tested for field-dependence-independence (FDI) and locus of control. Analyses of variance revealed no differences in locus of control; however, there were significant main effects for sex and culture in FDI. U. S. males were most field-independent followed by U.S. females, Cuban males and females. (Author)

The Center for Social Organization of Schools has two objectives: to develop a scientific knowledge of how schools affect their students, and to use this knowledge to develop better school practices and organization. One of the three programs sponsored by the center is the Schools and Maturity Program. It is studying the effects of school, family, and peer group experiences on the development of attitudes consistent with psychosocial maturity. The objectives of the program are to formulate, assess, and research important educational goals other than traditional academic achievement. This report contains three papers on psychosocial maturity entitled: (1) Psychosocial Maturity and the Social Environment, (2) Attitudes Toward Self and Society, and (3) the Phenomenological World of the Mature Adolescent. A bibliography of the Schools and Maturity program is also provided. (Author/PC)