Then and Now
Now and Then Interview
“Times sure have changed” is a quote that comes to mind when thinking of the different between being an adolescent today compared to being an adolescent sixty years ago. To find out more about the differences I was able to speak with a male, currently age 82, and a female age 18. I am familiar with both of these individuals one, a close friend of the family, and my cousin’s daughter was able to answer some questions for me also. These two people both grew up in the United States. The eighty-two year old lived in Kentucky as an adolescent. The eighteen year old currently resides in Arkansas. Times have changed and I learned a little about just how much in speaking with my willing participants.
These two people from such different times in this country taught me quite a bit about how things are different than they were sixty years ago. When speaking with the elderly gentleman I found he spoke of his adolescents as a working time in his life. He wasn’t able to attend high school because World War II started. His father owned a saw mill and needed help making railroad ties for the government. He gave up going to school for working six days a week, 10 hour days in the saw mill, in addition to the home chores he had to do before and after work to help keep his household going. This compares drastically to the current adolescent I spoke to. Things are much different today in age than they were back then. The adolescent of today is graduating high school this month, where she was able to take medical classes along with her college prep classes. This subject works 25-30 hours per week at a local fast food restaurant, but by her own choice. One major difference between these two besides the importance of education is that the eighty-two year old did not get paid a wage to work 50 hours a week. He worked to help out his family, not to earn a wage. This gentleman was content to be given enough money to go the movies most weekends.
“Times sure have changed” is a quote that comes to mind when thinking of the different between being an adolescent today compared to being an adolescent sixty years ago. To find out more about the differences I was able to speak with a male, currently age 82, and a female age 18. I am familiar with both of these individuals one, a close friend of the family, and my cousin’s daughter was able to answer some questions for me also. These two people both grew up in the United States. The eighty-two year old lived in Kentucky as an adolescent. The eighteen year old currently resides in Arkansas. Times have changed and I learned a little about just how much in speaking with my willing participants.
These two people from such different times in this country taught me quite a bit about how things are different than they were sixty years ago. When speaking with the elderly gentleman I found he spoke of his adolescents as a working time in his life. He wasn’t able to attend high school because World War II started. His father owned a saw mill and needed help making railroad ties for the government. He gave up going to school for working six days a week, 10 hour days in the saw mill, in addition to the home chores he had to do before and after work to help keep his household going. This compares drastically to the current adolescent I spoke to. Things are much different today in age than they were back then. The adolescent of today is graduating high school this month, where she was able to take medical classes along with her college prep classes. This subject works 25-30 hours per week at a local fast food restaurant, but by her own choice. One major difference between these two besides the importance of education is that the eighty-two year old did not get paid a wage to work 50 hours a week. He worked to help out his family, not to earn a wage. This gentleman was content to be given enough money to go the movies most weekends.
References: Berger, K.S. (2008). The developing person through the life span, 7th edition. New York, NY: Worth, P, 416-425. Lambert, A. (2010, April 27). Telephone interview. Picklesimer, E. (2010, May 1). Telephone interview.