John's Future Failure: The Pigman By Paul Zindel

John's Future Failure
Do you agree that you can tell if kids will be a successful contributing adults from when they are teenagers? Developmental Assets are good qualities a kid can posses to have a good successful future for himself. A search Institute have identified these assets to make a healthy developing life. In the novel The Pigman by Paul Zindel we notice that the protagonist John doesn't have many assets.Although some might say John will grow up to be a successful and contributing adult because he has Positive Peer Influence. John won't grow up to be a successful and contributing adult because positive Family Support, and Learning engagement.
To begin, John will not grow up to be a successful and contributing adult because he doesn't have the asset, Learning Engagement. This is meaning that John doesn't care for school and he also doesn't try he isn't engaging of what he should be learning. For example, when John's father was asking John about his missing work and John told us, “Bore wanted to know how I could be missing forty-two homework assignments in Problems
in American Democracy” (Zendel 123). This is showing that John doesn't care about how he is doing in school, he does not contribute in school. Similar, John isn't getting the education he needs when he is a grown adult. “ The next day we cut school” (Zindel 50). John doesn't even go to school somedays. He doesn't care about his future, he doesn't care about getting the education that he needs to become successful. Therefore, John will not become a successful in his future because of his poor choices he is making in his highschool years. Another significant reason why John will not become a successful contributing adult because he doesn't have Family Support.
This is when John's parents don't support him in what he wants in his future or in what he wants for himself. For example, John was having a conversation with his father and told him “I’m think of becoming an actor. Don't be such a jackass” (Zindel 65). This was when John was talking about what he wants in his future and his dad wasn't supporting it. Similarly, John's father didn't give him a positive supportive view instead he had said it was stupid. “even a dummy can learn how to do that” (Zindel 66). John's father just called his own son dumb. He doesn't believe in his son. His father doesn't support John in away way he thinks he is dumb, stupid, and has too big of an imagination. Finally, John isn't getting the support that he needs to become a successful
adult.
However, some may say the John wil become a successful and contributing adult because he's Positive Peer Influence. However, John does lack the asset of Positive Peer influence it a lot. John's friend Lorraine tells him not to do something and they ended up doing it together anyway. John and Lorraine were talking earlier about how going to the Pigman's house and Lorraine said “I've been thinking and I've decided we'd definitely not” (Zindel 33). This was when Lorraine thought they shouldn't go to the Pigman's and collect the money, but they still went. John does have a positive peer influence she knows the right decisions but she doesn't go through so she really isn't. This is then showing he doesn't have Positive Peer Influence. Whiles some people might think that John will have a positive future from the people he is with, they don't stop him from his bad decision making so he won't become a successful contributing adult.
In conclusion, John will not become a successful contributing adult. John doesn't have the building blocks that the Developmental Assets say young people need for a positive future. Even though he has a Positive Peer Influence, he lacks two very important assets a young person needs for his future: Learning Engagement and Positive Peer Influence. If John focuses more in school and on his work he would have a better chance of being a successful adult.