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The physical changes of adolescence will interfere with
intellectual activity to some extent. From time to time both boys and girls feel
tired, apathetic and listless. At other times they are intellectually very much
alive and creative, but mental output is likely to come by fits and starts.
Examination strain may in some cases cause serious breakdowns and anxiety
conditions.
Perceptual and manual skill are less indicative of intelligence now, and the
young person uses his head more than his hands for thinking. Linguistic ability
is closely correlated with mental ability in this period, and tests of the
verbal type are more reliable than performance tests in estimating intelligence
at this time.
The span of attention and logical reasoning continues to improve, at least up to
15 or 16 in the average individual. Learning is also more rapid. An attempt is
made to generalize from the start, and errors, therefore, are eliminated more
rapidly. There is also greater transference of learning owing to the greater
ability to generalize. Experience in studying one type of subject matter may be
more readily applied to another and so speed up the learning process.
Adolescence is the period when individual differences are the most marked.
Special abilities—practical, musical, mathematical, verbal, artistic and
scientific—begin to appear, though there may have been some evidence of their
existence before this. It is, therefore, important to provide a really wide
curriculum with alternative subjects at school, and a wide range of hobbies.
Given opportunity, the adolescent will usually develop his own bent at this
period, and at the same time will find valuable sublimatory outlets which will
counteract some of the underlying feelings of stress and strain that he is
experiencing. Recently, following the passing of the Education Act of 1944, much
attention has been paid to the development of secondary education and to the
importance of selecting the most appropriate type of education suited to the
age, ability and aptitude of the child of 11+ years. In general, it is not
possible to determine with any degree of accuracy whether a child will benefit
most from a more academic or a more technical type of education at so young an
age. In the majority of children, special abilities tend to develop later, and
psychologists consider that although the child's fitness for the Grammar School
type of education may be determined on the grounds of high intelligence alone,
it is unwise to make too clear cut a distinction between a practical and an
academic curriculum at least until the child reaches the age of 13 years.
Interests are varied. From one investigation Schonell found that interest in
woodwork and club activities tended to increase with boys during adolescence,
and interest in meccano, painting and drawing, for instance, tended to decrease.
Girls showed a greater interest
in knitting and sewing and club activities, while interest in " collecting " and
" housework " tended to diminish. Well-run social clubs are very necessary at
this age. They should provide a variety of activities—dramatic, athletic,
creative and social—with a leader who understands young people. This does much
to correct the natural delinquent tendency of this period, or the tendency to be
aloof, unsociable, dreamy and moody, which is common at this time.
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