14 Up Japan Summary

I watched 14 Up: Japan which is about several different adolescents and where they are in life since they were last talked to at age seven. Every adolescent was asked what they wanted to do in the future or what they enjoyed doing at age seven and was asked about it again when they were fourteen. I had learned from a student here at UWL, that is from Japan, that they go to school almost all day, more hours than we do, and have to take these extremely difficult exams to enter high school and then to enter college. Adolescents are in the moratorium stage because they are so young and not sure what options there are. If they missed the critical period for learning they may have a difficult time getting into school. Consequently, this could leave …show more content…
In one teen’s case, he had friends, but wanted to have a closer connection to them. Takaya had a very different reason why she was not able to make connections with friends. Takaya’s family lives on fishing island that does not anyone her age. Therefore, she is not able to form friendships with peers near home. She also has to take the ferry to her junior high school. This takes an hour each way to get to school and home. The ferry only leaves the town her school is in to the island she lives on at a certain time. She only has 20 minutes to get from her school to the ferry on time. This is very difficult for Takaya to be able to hang out with her friends after classes like she would like to. In addition, she is not able to join any activities because she is not able to stay after school otherwise she has no way home (14 Up: Japan, segment 6). Making friendships is important during adolescent years. “Adolescents who have close, stable, supportive friendships generally have a high opinion of themselves, do well in school, are sociable, and are unlikely to be hostile, anxious or depressed” (Papalia, 2015, p. 377). Friendships have many benefits and make a teen feel like they belong which is what most