Here’s a new one…boys suffering from a “Peter Pan” complex…
Here’s the press release from this new book, Permanent Adolescence: Why Boys Don’t Grow Up. Somehow I feel I already read this book, perhaps one of the top three reviewed here.
Wait, there’s one more I forgot to mention in the previous review, The Decline of Men by Guy Garcia.
I’m resisting the urge to review books I haven’t read, so I”ll simply cite the press release for Permanent Adolescence:
IS THE PETER PAN COMPLEX AMBUSHING TODAY’S BOYS?
Too many boys wish Neverland really existed so they can stay a child forever. It sounds like a lot of fun and games, with few adult responsibilities or chores. But what if a whole generation of males really didn’t grow up? This is the escalating problem of a generation of lost boys who never really take on adult responsibilities, have trouble maintaining personal relationships and play games forever, or worse, violently act out.
In Permanent Adolescence: Why Boys Don’t Grow Up (New Horizon Press, October 2008), Joe Carmichiel, MS Ed., examines the growing phenomenon of boys who grow up physically and legally but not emotionally and mentally. As a teacher working with troubled boys as well as gang members, Carmichiel has discovered that males are getting stuck in a state of permanent adolescence. And now these male permanent adolescents are taking on key adult roles without having fully developed into adults.
Permanent Adolescence: Why Boys Don’t Grow Up analyzes the unfortunate decisions and deliberate oversights society has made. Based on Carl Jung’s theory of “horizontal and vertical mindedness,” Carmichiel examines the major reasons causing permanent adolescence: the disappearance of coming-of-age rituals; the effect of television on children’s brain development; the lack of male role models; the normalization of violence; the inadequate teaching methods in schools. All of these factors cause boys to be contemptuous of adulthood, mistrust adults and, rather than seek mentorship or adult development, choose to remain permanent adolescents.
Carmichiel’s book reveals the devastating state many of today’s boys are in. These boys want to succeed and develop, but adults and society are not giving them the means and guidance they need to do so. Permanent Adolescence: Why Boys Don’t Grow Up not only presents the problems boys face growing up, but also outlines steps and changes society must make to remedy them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joe Carmichiel, MS Ed., an education consultant and freelance journalist, has taught high school English in some of America’s most challenged schools and has a wealth of firsthand experience with teens, gangs and violent adolescents. He has a B.S. in Communication Studies from State University of New York at Brockport and an M.S. in English Education from the University of Rochester. He lives in Victor, New York.
