THE BOY IN THE AWKWARD AGE.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12398, 13 November 1908, Page 5

THE BOY IN THE AWKWARD AGE.

"The boy in the awkward age wants nothing - systematic, and Thoroughness is never so hard or unnatural," says DrG. Stanley Hall in "Appleton's.f "He wants hints, suggestions in every direction, but nothing must be too long continued or detailed. His mind comes back later in-' idjvitably to all that makes a real appeal. His receptivity is at its very aj(|v and his productivity is at low »abb. Thus he can profit by others examples vicariously and get experir tenrp Jby proxy better now than ever before or later. .He lacks confidence in liis own power to achieve. His curiosity is most intense concerning things adults are most reluctant to talk about. He abhors methods and system but is greedy for subject matter, jor, as one of them said.. 'Any 0^ way that gets there suits mo.' There is almost nothing in the whole sphere of mind, life, or culture that lie does not want to sample. •- He 1 3 a cultural vagrant, always making little voyages of discovery) but not sailing far in any direction. He is especially eclectic, oricnating and circumnutating as a fast growing vino swings round and round to find a proper support. The boy is never ; inquisitive ,troubldsomc, unpredictable, shifty, and shirky. He wants ajpng tether but is always getting entangled in it. He is never so u«uncoereiblo by dheot bu tnovor so docile ,-to indirect and -tactful control. He is insistently forming new plans and reconstructing old ones. Ho is uneasy because he is always-wanting-though not knowing at all what he wants. He is a victim of caprice arid whims galore, , often, fantastic,, often preternatnrajlly and owlishly sage."