NCJ Number
163247
Date Published
1973
Length
103 pages
Annotation
This book attempts to help school personnel and others understand the world as youth experience it and prepare them to respond to young people's search for philosophical answers, as a step toward providing meaningful alternatives to drug abuse.
Abstract
The book presents a brief survey of some of the special difficulties of growing up in contemporary America, including: (1) the child's changing role in the family, accompanied by the postponement of maturity; (2) the loneliness, isolation, and impersonality of modern life; (3) the narrowness of experience and consequent lack of understanding of other communities; and (4) failure of society to replace older, abandoned ideas. While drug use by young people is a serious problem, it is also a symptom of those other problems suggested above; the country will not solve the drug problem until it solves the root causes. The book suggests ways that adults, especially teachers, can provide alternatives and positive role models to steer young people away from drugs. References, appendixes