Stereotyping Adolescents

Question: What are the effects of stereotyping adolescents?

Answer/Quote: “Lesko (2001), in her genealogical examination of th cultural construction of adolescence, argues that ‘common characterizations’ of adolescence (e.g., adolescents as full of raging hormones, adolescents are coming of age into adulthood) comprise ‘a sealed system of reasoning’ that constrains educational practices and possibilities within secondary schools. She explains, for instance, how some educators make linkages between ideas about adolescence and classroom practices and roles in the following ways: ‘Since adolescents have raging hormones, they cannot be expected to do sustained and critical thinking…. Since adolescents are immature, they cannot be given responsibilities in school, at work, or at home.’” Pp. 254-255.

Comment: I cannot identify with that statement about stereotyped adolescents. I’m not holier than thou. I just always looked at my students as individuals with individual characteristics. I just don’t recognize that kind of reasoning. RayS.

Title: “Deficits, Therapists, and a Desire to Distance: Secondary English Pre-service Teachers’ Reasoning about Their Future Students.” R Petrone and MA Lewis. English Education (April 2012), 254-287.