Cellular Phones

Just saying the word “cellular” makes me feel old. I’ve been reading some books for my grad class written in the late 90s/early 2000s and they constantly refer to cell phones as “cellular” or “mobile” phones. It hit me that the technology has become so pervasive that we no longer add any modifiers to them: they are simply just phones.

It’s hard now for me to remember a life before cell phones. I can remember as a child having an old-school rotary phone. As I’m reading books on how students around the world engage technology, it really hit me that my two-year-old son will never know a phone with wires. That’s crazy to me!

I share this because I think it really marks a generation gap between my generation and older, and the younger generations. One researcher named Todd Joseph Miles Holden refers to these younger generations as “adolechnics”: a generation of adolescents that are “inextricably linked to, and rooted in, technology.” He would posit (and I agree) that these youth do not simply adopt and adapt to technology, they grow up with and are immersed in it. Simply put, they don’t know a life without cell phones and high speed internet because that life has never existed for them.

My goal with this series is to look at a few technologies that are critical to the adolescent world to see how they view them. Often, we as adults tend to pass judgments on things based on how we view them instead of taking the time to see it through their eyes. I do want to start this series with a disclaimer: I believe that all the technologies that I will explore in this series are values neutral. Whether they are “good” or “bad” is based solely on how we use and consume them.

Isolating or Community Building?

One of the major debates around cell phone usage centers around its perceived isolating tendencies. Let’s be honest, we’ve all shook our heads disapprovingly at teenagers walking through stores or sitting in restaurants next to their families with their heads buried in their phones, seemingly oblivious to the world. “That can’t be good!” one might say. “They are cut off from the world!” Though I am not saying that texting during family dinners is a good practice, I would make the argument that at that moment, these students are MORE connected to the world than their parents are.

Though cell phones can appear to be isolating when we see groups of students sitting next to each other, texting instead of “talking” to each other, the truth is they are very inter-connected. The above mentioned researcher when studying technology use among adolescents in Japan points out:

Still, my observations suggest that despite the personalization and subjectivity implicated in adolescent cell phone use, the greatest energy is expended in ‘exteriorization’ – linkage with worlds outside: school, friends, activity groups and the larger worlds of commerce and popular culture. In this way, rather than encouraging inwardness, keitai (cell phone) use appears highly integrative. It connects users to others…)

Historically, the trend has been for Japanese adolescents to adopt technologies quicker and earlier than their western counterparts. As early as 2001, 81% of Japanese teenagers carried cell phones. Researchers there have been able to get the jump on studying the long-term affects of technology usage among teens. What they are finding is that texting, emailing, and social media are, in fact, extending community, not isolating teenagers.

Now, the question is “who are they connecting to?” It is true that cell phones can isolate students from adults such as parents, teachers, and mentors. Much of their connection through technology is peer-to-peer. So, why is that? I think part of the reason is the older generations have been slower to adopt the technology, therefore slower to join that community. The other part is the natural desire for independence that comes with adolescence.

Is it possible for parents to re-connect with their students through technology? I think yes…to a certain degree. We have to expect students to seek out independent frontiers, but at the same time students need healthy boundaries. Though they won’t admit it, they can put their phones down for family meals and other activities. They will survive.

Identity Formation

A cell phone is a way for students to express their shifting and growing identity. Have you ever looked at a student’s phone? It is usually incredibly customized and setup just they way they like it. Tones are assigned. Apps are arranged just the way they like it. It is personal space; a world that they can decorate and somewhat control.

This is actually a good thing. Though technology can’t create identity, it can help a student safely (if done correctly) try things out. One of the primary jobs of the adolescent is identity formation. Cell phones give students access to a digital world where they can mold and experiment with this process.

There is, however, an inherent danger to this process that comes with the technology. Cyber bullying and sexting are examples of the dangers that occur when students are sifting through an unfiltered private world. Another danger is what I call “multiple-identity disorder.” This is something that I see far too often among churched students. They have their “real life identity” and their “digital identity”. Many students feel like it is ok to act and talk one way in person, while acting like a totally different person in their digital world. Though they know that Facebook and text messages are read by “real people” it is almost as if it is just a “pretend” world. This can lead to many dangerous activities.

I used the word “unfiltered” because many parents view the world that students can access through their smart phones and computers as their own private little world. Privacy, after all, is something that students should be guaranteed, right? Well, to some degree, yes. However, the digital world is NOT a private world. On the contrary it is the most public world that they know. Things said and done on Facebook can have long-lasting consequences. Students need help learning how to filter what they see, hear, do, and say. More on this subject in a later post.

Conclusion

I could write a book on the subject of cell phones and adolescents (maybe I should someday). In this post I just wanted to point a couple of ways that adults can misunderstand the use of cell phones among students. Remember, it is a values neutral technology. How students use it determines whether it is a positive or negative in their lives. We need to try to understand how they view it so that we can better help them use it for good.

Questions? Comments?

There are two words that I really have a problem with in my title: business and doing. You see, lately it seems that many institutions have decided that they’d rather be businesses than real churches. They look more like 21st century corporate America than 1st century churches. Their resources are poured into efficiently pulling off “doing” church well. The problem is, the Church was never supposed to be something that we do…it is something that we are.

In today’s post I want to point out a few warnings signs that a church has become more of a business and a “doing” institution than a church.

The Pastor is a CEO

The office of the “pastor” seems to have really changed its meaning over the years. In some churches it is nearly deified, while in others it is “slave labor” under the control of the board. In others, it has become a corporate American position of power. It’s this position that I am writing about today.

Right now, it would seem that the primary focus of many bestsellers and conferences is leadership practices. This is not necessarily a terrible thing. Quality leadership is important in any ministry. However, I think it has lead to a misconception that it is the leaders that change lives. Sorry pastors, you are not the ones who save people…I’m pretty sure Jesus did that for everyone…including pastors.

I recently read a tweet from a prominent pastor that said that he was giving away to other pastors his sermons that “built” his church to the mega church it is today. That really rubbed me the wrong way. Sermons don’t build churches (or shouldn’t). Don’t Jesus and the Holy Spirit do that? Now, yes I know that the Holy Spirit inspired those sermons (at least I hope He did), but humans tend to take way to much credit for what God does.

Another sign that a pastor is a CEO is incredibly disproportionate salaries. How is it that a “senior” or “lead” pastor is making 3-4 times what anyone else on staff is making? How is it that a “pastor” should collect a 6+ figure salary, housing allowance, and travel expenses while the church is cutting staff for “budgetary” reasons? Take a moment to think about this…why is a youth pastor almost always the lowest paid staff position in the church? The typical youth pastor preaches, counsels, leads worship, runs the media department, teaches Sunday school, leads a staff, recruits and trains volunteers, and the list goes on and on. In most cases the youth pastor does as much as any person on the staff yet nationally it is the lowest paid staff position. Is a youth pastor really worth half or a fourth of what a senior pastor is worth?

Yet another sign that a pastor has become a CEO is that he/she has become more famous than Jesus (to quote the Beatles). In all seriousness, there are churches that are more famous for their CEO’s than they are for what Jesus is doing and has done in and through their church. CEO’s are celebrities. I’m not sure that the “celebrity” model works in the “last shall be first model.”

If We Build It They Will Come

Many churches in America view their buildings as their chief evangelistic tool. Really? Explain to me how a building can save people. Buildings are not a community of believers. Buildings don’t minister. And buildings have certainly never died on the cross for anyone’s sins. Yet, this doesn’t stop churches from using a lion’s share of their budgets for buildings (and what goes in them).

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not so naive to believe that buildings cannot be an effective tool for being the Church. They can help to foster community. They can keep us from being rained on while we worship corporately. They can even help to draw in the consumer-driven seekers. However, we have to be very careful to make sure we know why we are dumping our resources into our buildings.

Recently, I saw a church build a 3.5+ million dollar facility that was primarily built for youth. Less than two years later they had to let their youth leader go because they couldn’t afford his salary. Um…anyone else see something strange with this picture?

Students need mentors who are invested in them, care about them, and pray for and with them. They don’t need empty gymnasiums. They already have those (at school). On a similar note, hurting and lost people need more than just flashy screens, high-def TVs in the foyer, and really good coffee. They need Jesus. And last I checked, the Church (i.e. the people) is supposed to be the one who is spreading the love of Christ, not a cool building.

Jesus Is The Way Our Mascot

There are two corporate mascots that I love: the AFLAC duck and the Geico gecko. They are fun to watch, cute, and make me somewhat happy; however, both of these mascots have little to nothing to do with these companies’ success. They are marketing tools.

Has Jesus become a marketing tool for many churches in America? I’m not sure that I would say He even has that much prominence. Seriously, if an alien were to come down from Mars and go church hopping for a few weeks, who (or what) do you think it would say is the most important part of our faith? Being “good” or “right”? Having purpose? Joining a Christian club (i.e. church membership)? Tithing or prosperity? The face on a screen or the building housing the screen?

Conclusion

You might be wondering why I would write this post. I am not bitter or angry at the church. I am not trying to sound like an elitist, nor am I using my ideas about the church to sell books and be controversial for the fun of it. I write this because I am genuinely concerned for the health and future of the church in America. Students see these hypocrisies. They are rejecting the institution because they see the same corruption that they see in corporate America.  The empty cathedrals in Europe stand as a testament to what happens when the Church confuses itself with a political institution.  What will happen in America if the Church continues to confuse itself with corporate America?  Are the “numbers” still good in American churches? Yes, people still fill the seats. But I often wonder, are we measuring the wrong numbers?

Questions? Comments?

Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last decade, I’m sure you’re aware of the cyber bullying “craze” that has swept our nation. It has become more popular than the old fashioned “give-me-your-lunch-money-or-I’ll-give-you-a-swirly” type of behavior. It is very different… and not so different. The anonymity gives teenagers the courage to say the things that they normally would be too hesitant to say face to face. I threw out the “not so different” because the avenues in which they are saying these cruel things are their social outlets. These days students get at least half (if not more) of their social interaction technologically, so while us old folks might see this as new and strange, it is still just students picking on their piers socially… it’s just easier when the person you’re attacking can’t see you, and vice versa.

I have had many conversations with students about cyber bullying. When asked why, in their opinion, it has become so popular; they all give the same answer, “It is easier to be mean when you can hide behind your computer screen. You don’t have to see the person, and if a response is needed, you have time to think of a cutting, witty stab.” Now it is true that some of the serious cyber bullies are also real life bullies, but for the most part, the bullying that is being done is just your average teenager spreading their gossip publically. When I was in school this was done when you were driving around with your friends or sitting in the cafeteria eating the oh-so-delicious lunch that public schools have been known to serve. That was our social time. In the evenings we would hang out together, meaning in the same home, car or restaurant, where the conversations were just between us. Students today still hang out together, their “together” is just on Facebook. Sure some students do their gossiping through private messages, but a lot of it is talked about publically for the world (including the victim) to see.

Now I’m going to take a very, very harsh left turn here… bare with me.

In youth ministry, one question that is often raised is by students is, “How do you spread the gospel? How do you tell your friends, or anyone, about Jesus?” Now in having discussions about this, their question isn’t as much how as it is, “How do I tell someone about Jesus without them making fun of me or thinking I’m weird? What if they start laughing at me? What if they ask me a question I can’t answer?” They’ll tell you that it’s awkward or scary. Teenagers who truly want to evangelize can, for the most part, tell you the basic gospel story in their sleep. They know what to say, they are just afraid of the response they will get, or if it will damage their reputation. No one WANTS to get made fun of…. For anything! Especially their faith.

Now, tying my two random topics together, aren’t the reasons for cyber bullying a direct answer to the hesitations on students’ evangelizing fears?

• It’s awkward and scary
  • It’s easier when you “hide” behind your computer screen
• What if they make fun of me or laugh at me?
  • You don’t have to see the person
• What if I don’t have an answer to their question?
  • If a response is needed, you have time to gather your thoughts… or look it up in your Bible… or Google… or simply pray

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t teach our students how to talk to people face to face about Jesus. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t preach and preach to them that God isn’t something to be ashamed of; however, these students are used to socializing through technical means. It IS their community. It IS the way they interact and make friends. We don’t have to agree with it. Heck, we don’t have to understand it… it just IS. Maybe the thought of talking to someone about such a sensitive topic is so scary because that’s not how they are the most comfortable interacting PERIOD!

I think we need to encourage our students to take advantage of this incredible opportunity to spread the love of Jesus. Challenge them to attempt to make a difference through THEIR social outlet. As stated earlier, most cyber bullying is just your everyday gossip that get’s shouted to the world. What if instead of our students posting gossip, they posted something nice about a person, or they stood up for someone who was already being attacked, or they just said hi to a person they know doesn’t have many friends. What if every time they saw something negative or mean, they made a conscious effort to do something nice and loving instead? Tell someone they looked nice today. Tell someone they did a great job in their game/play/choir concert/on their project. Or be bold… someone complaining about their day? “I’ll pray for you.”

Our teenagers can easily make a difference, we just need to open their eyes to the possibility of them doing it in THEIR world, THEIR way… not ours. I’d venture to bet most of our students are against cyber bullying. We need to encourage them to the change, make a difference. If all of our students in all of our youth ministries across the country did this…. Well, I can’t fathom the possibilities.

Higher Education

This series has been sparked by the research I have done for my grad class, “Sociology of Adolescence.” I have spent a fair amount of time studying the history of teenagers in America. In my previous post, I looked at the similarities between the Civil Rights movement and today’s movement for the rights of the homosexual. Today we are going to look at how the generation of 1960s and 1970s changed higher education and how this generation will do the same.

False Promises and Control

The late 1960s and early 1970s were a tumultuous time for higher education. Schools such as Berkley and Kent State saw dramatic and well-documented uprisings of students against the establishment. Often, history records this as simply being about anti-Vietnam sentiments. This movement was far deeper than just anti-war. It was about false promises and control.

The college scene of the 1960s was very different from the college scene today. It was common for schools to require a shirt and tie for men in class and even the lunchroom. Girls had even stricter dress and conduct codes. Many institutions tended to view themselves as a sort of “surrogate” form of parenthood and treated college-age students as more of an extension of teenagers rather than young adults.  Freedom of speech, political choice, and in some cases even religion were not tolerated on even public campuses. This lead to the contentious relationship between faculty/administration and students that boiled over into demonstrations, sit-ins, and sometimes even tragic violent encounters.

Boiling underneath the surface was the perception of false promises and unmet expectations. For decades higher education was viewed as the necessary step to guarantee a quality job with quality pay. Suddenly, in the ’60s and ’70s this began to shift. Students began to realize that, with the massive increase in students attending college, a bachelor’s degree was not the guarantee it once was. In fact, they were seeing that many of their friends who were skipping college were jumping into the workforce and making far more money then they were. The shiny promises of the ivory tower started to become suspect driving a wedge of distrust between late adolescents and their authority figures.

What Changed

Obviously, higher education did not go away. In fact, it saw a resurrection, however at a cost. Universities had to surrender control. Freedoms that all Americans enjoy are granted to college students. Campuses became far more integrated, not just by race but by sex as well. The numbers of young women entering the college ranks has grown exponentially.

The “false promises” returned to a “partial truth.” Fields requiring higher education blossomed over the next couple of decades, though as we will see in a minute, this never really resolved itself. Regardless, the number of students going to college continued to grow at incredible rates.

More False Promises, More Control

Many financial experts are predicting that the excessive student borrowing that we are seeing today will lead to an even greater economic collapse than the housing bubble brought us a few years back. Quite frankly, the cost of college has not kept up with the cost of living. According to a recent article in the New York Times, “The current balance of federal student loans nationwide is $902 billion, with an additional $140 billion or so in private student loans.” The article goes on to say, “If the trends continue through 2016, the average cost of a public college will have more than doubled in just 15 years.” If costs are getting so high, why are so many students crippling their futures with tremendous amounts of debt? The answer is false promises.

Pressure and More Pressure

When I was in high school, I scored a 29 on my ACT. That wasn’t an amazing score, but it wasn’t low. Add that to my 3.5 GPA and fell into a category that attracts a lot of pressure to attend a four year university right out of high school. Though my parents tried to talk some sense into me by encouraging me to attend a cheaper community college first, I listened to the pressures of guidance counselors, teachers, and con-artists college recruiters and jumped right into a prestigious four-year private university. My college debt is crippling. I only blame myself, but the fact of the matter is that there is tremendous pressures for a middle class student to borrow more money than they can afford because “that’s what impressionable marks smart kids do.”

Those of us who work in youth ministry see this first hand every year. I watch as my students feel the pressure to live up to “expectations” and attend a school that they can’t afford. We are always guaranteed that we will make enough money to pay for our loans. However, reality will often disagree with that statement. Student after student will testify that no one sat them down and walked them through what their actual payments would look like. It is glossed over as though the payments will just be “easy” with all the money we will make from the jobs that our piece of paper will guarantee us. Rajeev V. Date, deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ominously warns, “If one is not thinking about where this is headed over the next two to three years, you are completely missing the warning signs.”

Where Are We Headed?

I first must admit that I am not financial forecaster or remotely an expert, but I speak from personal experience and the trends I am watching with the students I minister to. Parents and leaders need to realize that students are beginning to see this bubble that will soon burst. Bachelor’s degrees no longer guarantee anything other than massive loans. For many demographics, there is a ridiculous and unfair stigma placed on students who forgo college to enter the workforce. However, for many students in the future, this may be the smarter move. As the cost of college continues to sky-rocket many students are beginning to question the worth of that piece of paper. Is it really worth $25,000, $50,000, and even $100,000 worth of debt?

So what does this mean? It means that, if we are not careful, a great generational divide will form between parents and authority figures who place the pressure on the students to go to college, and students who don’t see the economic value. Distrust and feelings of manipulation will grow in this generation. I believe this will lead to a massive change in how college is viewed and even operated. Will it lead to a return of a hybrid apprenticeship program? Will it lead to the merciful death of “liberal arts” education (I once paid borrowed well over $1,000 for a badminton class…because my school required P.E.).

Conclusion

Our role as youth leaders and parents should be to help students make wise choices. That means listening to their fears and concerns. That means keeping an open mind about what might be best for their future. We must never lose sight of the fact that God is the one in control, not the institution of higher education. That means His way may not always be the American way.

Thoughts? Questions? Where do you think higher education is headed in America?

previous posts in this series:

20Teens and Hippies – Part 1 (The Myth of the Good Ol’ Days)

20Teens and Hippies – Part 2 – (Civil Rights and the Rights of the Homosexual)

]]> http://leadinginthemargins.com/2012/05/16/20teens-and-hippies-are-they-really-that-different-part-3/feed/ 0 bdenen 20Teens Graphic http://leadinginthemargins.com/2012/05/14/blog-share-millennials-receptive-to-but-highly-critical-of-christianity-by-billy-roberts-two-handed-warriors/ http://leadinginthemargins.com/2012/05/14/blog-share-millennials-receptive-to-but-highly-critical-of-christianity-by-billy-roberts-two-handed-warriors/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 15:45:56 +0000 Ben Denen http://leadinginthemargins.com/?p=1060 ]]> Millennials Receptive to but Highly Critical of Christianity, by Billy Roberts | Two Handed Warriors.

I thought I would share this link since it follows my post on Friday pretry nicely. I really believe that the American church needs to take this seriously.

The New Civil Rights Movement

As I mentioned in my last post, I am taking a grad class called “Sociology of Adolescence.” I have spent a fair amount of time studying the history of teenagers in America. What does the past say about today’s youth? A lot! It gives us hope as well as warnings. Today we are going to look at the similarities between the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and 1970s and the gay rights movement today.

Social Justice in the Sixties

The sixties and seventies were a well-documented time of social unrest and activism for many teenagers and college-age students. Though they fought on many fronts for the freedoms they felt were being trampled on, racism and anti-war rhetoric seemed to get the most “press” time. Activism, both peaceful and violent, played a huge role in changing the culture for all Americans, not just teenagers. Through the brave efforts of black and white teenagers working together, the segregation that seems so primitive and backwards now was torn down. Yes, adults played a critical role, but without the teenagers that were riding buses in “freedom rides” and braving the dangerous world of school integration, I have a hard time believing the civil rights movement would have won.

What was the church’s response in this era? Well, that is hard to pin down because it was obviously all across the board. Many Christians and churches supported the Civil Rights Movement but certainly not all. In many cases the loudest voice was one of hatred and racism. In the south, prominent leaders like Jerry Falwell made statements like,

“If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God’s word and had desired to do the Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision [Brown vs. Board of Education] would never had been made. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.”

Many teenagers were left feeling like their fight was against not only the government but the institution of the American church as well.

Social Justice and Equality Today

This desire of the sixties and seventies teenagers for social justice and equality for all races, not just middle-class whites, strikes me as incredibly similar to the activism I am seeing today amongst teenagers and their views towards the accepting of alternate sexual preferences and lifestyles. Recently, many students from all of the schools in my area took a one-day vow of silence on April 19 to take a stand for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) students who are silenced everyday by hatred and bullying. Unlike much of the gay activism of years past, these were heterosexual students standing up, not just the LGBT teens. My Facebook feed is constantly filled by teens organizing anti-bullying campaigns that are fighting specifically for LGBT teens and their rights. Many of the people they are fighting against are the adults in the government, school systems, and churches whom they feel are creating a world of inequality for those who are not heterosexual. Ironically, in many cases, these are the same ducts who waged similar battles in the 1960s and 1970s to guarantee today’s youth the freedom to speak out.

Same Sex Marriage and the Oval Office

I find it ironic that this post was planned and mostly written before President Obama made his bold declaration. This week, he made Presidential history by becoming the first sitting President to support same sex marriage. Yesterday, The Daily (a tablet newspaper) ran an article that featured some interesting statements that I think defines this new movement. In one, he cited his daughters as having an impact on his decision. The article stated,

“He added that ‘it wouldn’t dawn’ on his young daughters, Sasha and Malia, that some of their friends’ parents who happened to be gay would be treated differently than others.”

For President Obama’s children (one is a teenager and the other will be soon) the question isn’t one of morality but one of freedom and equality. The article later quoted President Obama as saying,

“When I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy or foreign policy…but [they] are very clear that when it comes to same-sex equality or sexual orientation, they believe in equality.”

If his statement is true, this would horrify many dyed-in-the-wool Republicans. Now, let’s look at what the people that this generation is fighting against have to say:

“We are not anti-gay — we are pro-marriage,” Tami Fitzgerald, chairwoman of the executive committee for the pro-amendment Vote for Marriage NC, said at a victory rally in Raleigh, where supporters ate pieces of a wedding cake topped by figures of a man and a woman. “And the point, the whole point is simply that you don’t rewrite the nature of God’s design for marriage based on the demands of a group of adults.”

Do you see the shift in ideology from the younger generation and the older generation? Same sex marriage isn’t about morality to the 20Teens, it’s about the rights and freedoms of all Americans. Ironically, many churches in the 1960s took this tact and said that segregation was a “social” issue not a “spiritual” issue and used this excuse to stay out of the movement (or sometimes defend segregation). When taking attacks from leaders like Falwell, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote,

“In the midst of a mighty struggle to rid our nation of racial and economic injustice, I have heard many ministers say: ‘Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern’…I have looked at the South’s beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlines of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over I have found myself asking: ‘What kind of people worship here? Who is their God?’”

Conclusion

I really do believe that, for this generation, the rights of the homosexual is the “Civil Rights Movement” of their era. The changes brought about by the young people in the 1960s and 1970s had a very positive effect. Integration and equality have taken huge strides for African Americans in this country. However, it also had a huge negative. A generation gap was formed by the bitter wars of words (and tear gas) that still have ripple effects today. Will this happen again with the 20Teens? What will happen to the Church if it is torn apart from within?

Our response as a Church very well may determine its long term viability in America. I know that this is a bold statement, but the empty cathedrals in Europe stand as a testament of what can happen when the Church becomes irrelevant. I have heard many leaders dismiss today’s youth and their support of gay rights as nothing more than an example of their depraved sexuality and desire to live sinfully. If you believe that then you need to take some time to listen to students instead of baseless rhetoric. Make no mistake about it. This is about equality and freedom and a genuine desire for social justice. Though I am not saying that the Church has to accept same sex marriage, I am saying that it needs to be very careful to not reject a generation of youth. How, in all disagreements, can the Church show the love and acceptance of Christ and not judgement? This is not about the Church vs. the homosexuals…it is becoming the Church vs. a generation that stands in support of a movement.

Questions? Comments? There is no question that this is a tremendously controversial subject. What do you think the Church’s response should be?

previous posts in this series:

20Teens and Hippies – Part 1 (The Myth of the Good Ol’ Days)

The Good Ol’ Days

As many of you know, I am pursuing a graduate degree in youth ministry leadership. The class that I am currently taking is called “Sociology of Adolescence.” The last two books that I have read (The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager and Teenagers: An American History) have primarily dealt with the history of adolescents in America. My post from last Friday touched a little on some of the things I have been wrestling with in my studies. In this series, I am going to take a look at the similarities between the teenagers of today that will be going through junior high and high school in this decade (a group I like to call the 20Teens) and the teenagers of the 1960s and 1970s. I have been startled by how much they have in common.

Before I get into their similarities, I want to first bust the myth of the “good ol’ days.” Often, when adults my age and older talk about the teens today, we tend to bemoan the loss of the teens of “yesteryear.” We romanticize “simpler times” when teenagers were…well…just better. When you look at the history of teenagers in America, I think you will find that things aren’t actually all that bad.

Puritans through the Roaring Twenties.

Ok, I know that is a HUGE timespan. But let me bust a few myths. “Teenagers” didn’t exist back then. In fact, the concept of the “teenager” didn’t show up until around the 1940′s. Basically, before that you had children and adults. “Young people” as teenagers were often called were considered to be adults, or maybe more accurately, adults in training.

At a cursory glance, these young adults were responsible, moral, and much more respectful. They were “adult” enough to start building families and were working full-time as early as twelve to fourteen in some cases. This may sound like utopia to some parents of teens who can’t even keep their room clean, but upon closer inspection, this dream is busted.

America was not the “land of the free” as much as we like to think it was. It was the land of freedom for white middle-to-upper class people. Immigrants, people of other races, and the poor did not have many prospects for their children’s future. Yes, young people were responsible enough to work…but that is because they had to as means of survival. They weren’t working paper routes and cushy fast-food jobs either. They were child laborers in coal mines and on the streets. Life was hard…very, very hard. Schooling beyond the most basic grammar schools was for the wealthy elite only.

Though many came to America to escape the “class” system of Europe, they were shocked to find America to be not as different as they had thought. Yes, freedoms existed if you were willing to hit the frontier and harsh realities of the wilderness, but opportunities were very hard to come by. Then the industrial revolution happened, and business magnates realized that cheap, unskilled laborers in their “youth” were a tool for profit. And profit from these laborers they did. It got to the point to where many families only survived because their young people, guys and girls, were the primary breadwinners. Youth became, in many ways, necessary means for survival…almost indentured servants.

The Great Depression and WWII

Things changed dramatically when jobs evaporated for everyone. Part of the reason high schools became the staple of teenage passage to adulthood that they are today is because America had to get to teenagers out of the work force, and high school was the only place to put them. A new breed of “teen-agers” came into existence.

As America pulled itself out of the Depression, WWII hit hard (and prosperously), and America’s youth were once again called upon to save us. As many as 450,000 people were drafted every month. American youth went to war. High school enrollment shot up astronomically during this time. Very few, if any, would look at the Depression years and wartime dangers as the “good ol’ days.”

The Fifties and Sixties

Often, when people refer to the “good ol’ days” when teenagers were “civilized” they are referring to this era. The evil “teenage rock & roll” from this era looks rather harmless today. I mean, really, Elvis? The Beatles? Are they really that threatening? However, before we crown this generation as the ideal for all of us to strive for, let’s look at the reality.

In her book, Teenagers: An American History, author Grace Palladino writes,

“No matter what kind of spin adults now put on the good old days, the ‘rules’ they now long for were rules of inequality and social conformity. Did the world really work better when girls had no choice in life but to get married, blacks knew their servile place, and kids who lived outside the charmed circle of upper-middle class life were invisible? Was life really simpler for teenage boys who carried the burden of war in the 1940s, or black teenagers who integrated high schools a decade later?”

I am going to go ahead and say nope, I don’t think life was really that much better back then.

Conclusion

As we look at this generation, I think it is very important that we stop romanticizing and idealizing our past. Are there things we can learn from it and possibly return to as a better way of life? Yes. There are elements. But let’s not forget that progress was necessary, and with progress comes social change. For instance, school integration was hard fought for and distrust of authority was a natural by-product. In essence, as we will see in the next couple of posts, many of the “evils” of today are a direct result of the “evils” of yesterday.

Questions? Comments? Do you find yourself longing for yesterday? What can we learn from the “good ol’ days”?

Which “Culture” Most Threatens the Church? | internetmonk.com.

Apprenticeship vs. High School

The concept of the “teenage” years is a relatively new invention–one that is first documented around the Great Depression and World War II. Closely tied to the idea of the teenager, is the concept of mandatory attendance to high school. This is where teenagers are prepared for life in the work force. Though it is a staple of American adolescence, it is a relatively new concept.

For most of the early years of America, apprenticeship was to young men (and rarely women) what high school is to today’s teenagers. It was the training ground for adulthood and career. A young man (as early as 10 or 11) would be sent to study under a master as his apprentice in one of the many trades that required special skills. These “masters” would often serve not only as an instructor, but as a mentor and often, even as a second father. It was a special relationship where a highly skilled craftsman would pass down the secrets of his trade to a willing young man. Though it sounds ideal, it was ripe with abuse and neglect.

The Culture Shift

One of the major culture shifts that changed the sociological landscape for adolescents in America that Hine described was the slow erosion of apprenticeship system in the early nineteenth century. I found an interesting parallel between the incredible wealth of information found on the Internet to how information in books replaced the dependency of the apprentice. Hine wrote, “The ‘mysteries’ of crafts, professions, and business were being collected in books. A literate young person could learn more from a book than from a master, and was thus freed from the dependency inherent in the apprentice system.” The author sees this as a good thing, because young people were not isolated from society. “They weren’t children, or adolescents, or teenagers. They were young Americans, who were fully a party of the new democratic society they were rather self-consciously beginning to create.” Hine saw apprenticeship as a separating factor, something used to prepare young people for an eventuality of adulthood; whereas, this new shift allowed young people to join adult society sooner.

The Internet Today

What I find interesting is that we are seeing this same shift today. Technologies like iTunes U and YouTube have made a wealth of previously inaccessible information available to the masses. Here is a personal example. Two years ago my youth ministry purchased Final Cut Pro, a professional grade video editing software suite. I had absolutely no idea how to use it. In years past I would have had to contact my local community college and hope that they offered classes in it. If they did not, I would have had to search for someone who had been trained on the software to study under them. Instead, I fired up my web browser, went to YouTube, and found tremendously helpful, free instructional videos by professionals. Information that would have required the classroom or private tutors with all of costs that go with it was now available for free, and perhaps the best part was that it was available at my convenience.

The New Undergrad

As I read this section and thought back to my experience with YouTube it made me wonder what kind of shifts this will have in ministry training and education as we move forward. There are professors and theologians that not only impart their wisdom through books, but also offer opportunities for people to interact and study under them through blogs and other forms of online interaction. Is the ivory tower becoming the silicon tower? In ten years will it make sense for students to go off to four-year universities if they have a calling in this life to mentor students? As we move toward a blended apprenticeship/self-access society, would it not make more sense to get mentors out in the field right away?

Conclusion

The cost of college education is growing yet the yield of wages is not. The undergraduate degree is becoming about as meaningful and expected as the old high school diploma used to be, and it makes me wonder what the future of education and training will look like. When apprenticeship began to fade, Hine documented that young people found freedom from such labels that we give them now: teenager, adolescent, student. What freedom would the fading of the American university system bring?

Today I thought I’d share a post that I wrote for youthministry360.com. It’s a fun look at what parents need from a youth ministry leader.

5 Ways To Ensure Parents Don’t Like Your Ministry