Notes from the margins: be normative!

There’s a constant push for young people to “take responsibility” for themselves: appearance, language, manners, public image, public self-image, public performance… that leaves little room for any deviation from what the older people see as ‘normal’.  The phrase "take responsibility" is really just saying, be normative by our standards.  No one really wants those young people to take responsibility... just to fit their mould.

Notes from the margins were taken from notes I made while reading the book “Rethinking Youth”. Johanna Wyn and Rob White. Rethinking Youth. St Leonards, NSW. Allen and Unwin. 1997.

Posted by Peter Hotchkin