For example, take Prof Gluckman's Report on Teenagers to John Key. The gap between puberty and brain maturity is growing, whilst social networks are splintering and growing more chaotically:
As!a!result,!acting!out!behaviours!in!a!number!of!domains,!such!as!(I thought about re-formatting it, but it actually looks better with the x marks)
binge!drinking,!illicit!drug!use,!unsafe!sexual!activity!and!criminal!offending,!
are!increasingly!likely!to!occur.
Things have changed since the Mazengarb Report, but not a lot. The words have changed from immorality to immaturity, the milk bars morphed into RTDs. The bodgies and widgies are now bogans and boy racers, but the song remains the same. No disrespect to Gluckman. John Key might as well as asked him the answer to life, the universe and everything. There's that whole Illusion of Control Bias going on.
Frankly, I think a bigger point is that formal childhood learning is being overwhelmed by more chaotic and unpredictable means. We aren't teaching them things in a more coherent order. Band aid stupidities, such as cracking down on fake IDs, does nothing but kindle a bingo on the Status Quo Bias.
More importantly, we aren't reading our kids Grimm stories any more. It's all Disney Channel fluff and helicopter play dates. Children need more gore in their diet, and I don't mean the new Nightmare on Elm St. I'm talking muppets:
