hello everyone
as previously mentioned hi I'm Andrew
Pendergast as you probably already
guessed today I'm going to be talking
with you about something that
potentially concerns a large number of
you in this room today and from what
I've gathered from conversations and
observations the remainder of the world
responsibility particularly in
adolescence alright we're going to be
doing some crowd participation here so
raise your hand if you believe that you
are a responsible individual all right
now keep your hand up if you're an
adolescent all right you can put your
hands down now
put your hands up if you believe that
generally adolescents as a whole or
responsible
that's what I thought we'll see if that
changes that all over the course of this
talk as we know further into the
necessity of adolescent responsibility
and how we can take steps towards that
now responsibility is defined as one the
state or fact of being responsible don't
you just love power dictionary works -
an instance of being responsible 3 a
particular burden of obligation upon one
who is responsible for something for
which one is responsible for and 5
reliability or dependability now
essentially all these definitions can be
condensed into two basic meanings
firstly being accountable for something
that one has been given League of and
secondly being reliable or dependable
generally society accepts the first
definition of responsible answerable or
accountable for something within one's
power or control seeing as this is the
definition that we have the Society have
chosen to define responsible this shall
be the definition I will be using for
the remainder of this talk so let's get
started is responsibility a truly
universal concept now one would believe
that accountability was necessary in the
first civilizations for them to grow if
somebody didn't do what they were
supposed to do how in the world could
the society advance as children aged
into adolescence they were given a real
responsibility in their community that
would aid in the development of said
community this taught them both how they
were to be responsible by their elders
and gave them a more concrete
understanding of the concept of
responsibility now before we dig into
how we can actually get to a point where
we have entirely responsible adolescence
I've noticed that society generally has
come to the conclusion that there's a
possible option for a failure of a
responsibility I think we need to clear
that up going by the definition of
responsible which is being answerable or
accountable for something within
one's power control if somebody has
given a job and that jobs is a success
sure blendin simple they've completed
their responsibility now let's say that
jobs a failure as long as they're being
held accountable for it they are still
being responsible
I've noticed that society has generally
thrown this to the wayside so I'd like
you to keep that in mind for the
remainder of this talk and when you go
back out into your daily lives now
responsibility takes many different
forms for each person obviously the
responsibilities of a student and of a
worker are going to vary greatly however
the key concepts that underlie
responsibility are common for each
person trust expectation and
comprehension so we've defined the
necessary aspects for our responsibility
to exist and flourish for both
adolescents and adults as previously
stated there is the trust that one will
uphold the aspect of the agreement that
applies to them
expectation for those given
responsibilities to be held accountable
and comprehension of the situation and
elements involved as responsibility is
built on the contract that one will be
held accountable the trust that one
person will uphold their portion of the
agreement is the epitome of the social
phenomena called responsibility now for
responsibility to really exist there
must be an expectation for the one given
a responsibility to be held accountable
for what they have been requested to do
one major aspect of this is that
consequences must be present for
expectations to truly hold any meaning
and therefore for responsibilities to be
upheld lastly a comprehension of both
what the expectations of the one who is
given the responsibility is and the
trust that exists between those in the
social contract of responsibility must
be present these three key aspects for
responsibility to exist must be kept in
mind particularly as I dissect the needs
of adolescents in order for us to
develop into the fool be responsible
members of society that we are growing
up to be now adolescents require certain
stimuli
I from society in order to assist in the
development of responsibility through
the entirety of grain development for
instance as previously mentioned as
adolescents begin to develop the
prefrontal cortex wherein lies the
capacity for decision-making they strive
for an increased amount of
responsibility so that they can fill
their brain with the complete
understanding of responsibility giving
them a more dynamic view of this newly
formed concept now this can be observed
as I'm sure you've all have noticed as
early adolescents wish for increased
amounts of freedom in return for the
responsibility that they will be held
accountable for their actions and if an
adolescent wishes not to be held
accountable for what they do
they simply have that freedom removed
that's where the consequences come in
now this prepares the very foundation
for the successful implementation of
responsibility into young adolescent
life in addition to the increased amount
of freedom and consequences the
adolescents must be given to nurture
responsible members of society these
adolescents in order to form a strong
basis for responsibility must be given a
meaningful position in society this
results in not only the creation of the
sense of community involvement that is
an apparent necessity in the development
of an adolescent mind but also offers
the adolescent a better vantage point
from which they can understand
responsibility and how it plays into
everyday life overall
although these examples do not entirely
complete the needs of adolescents this
essentially condenses the list into
three specific elements that can be
internally separated in order to allow
for a more complete understanding of
these needs once again these are trust
expectations and comprehension now early
adolescence is a particularly crucial
period in the development of autonomy
including responsibility and
self-control as seen in a study done in
Michigan in 1987 with 174 adolescents
and their Guardians the development of
responsibility in the tested adolescence
was directly correlated between gender
and parental employment
yes this study demonstrated that in
families with one parent who was not
employed the adolescents had a tendency
to be more responsible this concludes
that the concept of responsibility is
taught from elders of society as I
previously hypothesized this experiment
also discovered that females are early
adolescence generally were more
responsible than their male counterparts
this can be attributed to the fact that
the female brain develops slightly early
in adolescence slightly earlier in
adolescence than males and thus the
sections of the brain that are involved
in the development of a sense of
responsibility are more complete than
those of males as responsibility in
adolescence has been partially defined
through the scientific aspect of the
concept the quintessential component of
the development of adolescent
responsibility is the adolescent itself
as the adolescent grows they will begin
to crave responsibility but what can
adolescents really be responsible for
now I can imagine that in all of your
lives you have things for which you are
responsible namely your family your job
and yourself those are the aspects of
society that a full-grown member can
truly be responsible for now adolescents
are responsible for themselves that's
just the biological imperative that one
will live as long as one can so that one
can pass on their genetic makeup and
influence Society as they see fit now
you may notice that good portion of
adolescents do not have jobs now
seemingly that would take the second
point of responsibility in society go to
moot education replaces the
responsibility of having a job and must
be treated the same way as if you had a
job now the family unit and the social
unit are where the responsibilities of
an adolescent and an adult differs
greatly the responsibilities of an adult
in social situations is simple be aware
of those around you and influence them
as you see fit similarly the social
responsibilities of adolescents revolve
around the caring for those around you
and influencing them in the way that you
view to be correct
however this responsibility in
adolescents has
much more impact as the development of
self-identification is most prominent
during this stage and development now
for an adult the responsibilities of a
family is also simple keep those whom
you love and/or share your genetic
makeup safe from harm and teach them to
be self-reliant now this is where it
really begins to differ for an
adolescent their responsibility in the
family unit is to learn from their
parents and assist those around them to
do the same at face value this may seem
as though there's very little difference
in the responsibility of the adult and
of the adolescent in the family unit
however as the adult is responsible for
other people the adolescent is dependent
on other people yes the adolescent is
responsible for him or herself but he or
she is also cared for by another being
being taught responsibility in the
process this is the sole reason that
adolescents are able to develop into
responsible members of society now the
differentiation between adult and
adolescent responsibilities in the
family unit at the very essence of it
allows for a responsibility in society
to exist this allows for the nurturing
of responsibility through the ageless
relationship of master and apprentice as
an adult teaches an adolescent the
concepts of responsibility the
adolescent develops a better
understanding of said concept and in
turn reaches for more of it this allows
for a continuous development of
responsible adults through the teaching
of adolescence specifically the
nurturing of that of responsibility in
adolescence requires certain elements
the constant teaching and reminding of
the concept of responsibility through
both action and discussing discussion to
the increase in responsibilities in the
life of the adolescent as they develop a
concrete understanding of responsibility
and acquire the necessary elements to
obtain more responsibility in their
lives and the cooperation of both
adolescent adult and adult resulting in
the mutual comprehension of the
necessity of the teaching of
responsibility to adolescents for
society as a whole through the simple
adhesion to these
necessary aspects from the development
of responsibilities in adolescence the
development of a sense of responsibility
in the next generation and every
generation thereafter will be improved
resulting in the allowance for societal
growth now let's focus on the second
aspect necessary for the development of
responsibilities in adolescence
the increase in responsibilities given
to adolescents as they continue to
acquire more knowledge pertaining to
responsibilities we're able to
specifically locate examples for each
and every adolescent in their life
through which they can be responsible
for I for instance enjoy the
responsibility of getting my schoolwork
done keeping myself healthy and ensuring
that I'm performing to the best of my
abilities in each and ever that I
perform now this doesn't paint a mold
for each other lesson in society and to
locate the exact instances listen to
this takes time patience and
experimentation with the results of
different responsibilities and the
outcomes thereof stemming directly from
that both adolescents and society need
to partake an active role in the
development of responsible adolescents
society needs to abide by these
necessary elements for responsibility to
grow and be present in the journey of
responsibility for each and every
adolescent in society adolescents need
to be aware of this assistance that
they're being offered and take advantage
of such assistance in order to develop
an increased sense of responsibility
that they will pass on to the next
generation adolescents also need to
attempt to increase their own levels of
responsibilities within their family
units and their social groups allowing
for a dynamic growth of responsibility I
believe that each member of society has
an important role in the development of
responsible adolescents and though there
is a large amount of work to be done the
development of responsibilities in
adolescence is a necessary and
obtainable aspect of society though you
may view us now as a shadow of today
tomorrow we will be the light of the
future thank you
you