G07: ELA: Changing Times Changing Voices: Resources Teen Voices

“What can you show us that might help make the portrait of ‘Gen Z’ more interesting, nuanced, complete or real?” we asked. Nearly 2,200 students answered.

American adolescents were displaying traits unknown among children and adults. Although the word teenager did not come into use until decades later, the teenage mindset dawned in the 1920s.

Humans have been turning 13 for tens of thousands of years, but only recently did it occur to anybody that the bridge between childhood and adulthood deserved its own name.

How two world wars and the industrial revolution created the modern teenager

A teenager growing up in the prior to the end of WW II was forced to take life fairly seriously. Males were expected to join the services or to go out get a job, help support his family or a new bride. Women were expected to meet a man, marry and have children. College was for a select few. Teens had limited freedom, not much economic power and little influence in decisions made by the older generation. They acted responsibly without demanding freedom as payment.