Business columns: Why we must abolish adolescence

last updated 8 January 2015

Newt Gingrich

BusinessWeek

“It’s time to declare the end of adolescence,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Prolonging the transition from childhood to adulthood helps no one, least of all our young people. “The proof is all around us”—rampant teen pregnancy and drug use, soaring dropout rates, and poor academic achievement compared to the students of China and India. “The solution is dramatic and unavoidable: We have to end adolescence as a social experiment.” Adolescence was always an artificial construct. It “was invented in the 19th century to enable middle-class families to keep their children out of sweatshops.” Before then, “there was virtually universal acceptance that puberty marked the transition from childhood to young adulthood.” We must return to that direct transition from play to work, by forging tight links between learning and financial reward. We can use the Internet to quickly disseminate the best teaching methods and enable teens to study year-round—a must if we’re going to catch up to China and India. And we can pay teenagers to study and get good grades. In doing so, our young people will learn responsibility and the value of hard work. “And our nation will become more competitive in the process.”