I To Life!

PARENTING

Out. Of The Starting Gate

Pediatrician's book explores "work-life unreadiness" among 20-somq.things.

Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News

el Levine remembers
being "bashed around"
when he began work-
ing in the field of pediatric
medicine. One example: He
completed a research project
for a senior doctor who took all
the credit.
Levine, now director of the
Clinical Center for the Study of
Development and Learning at
the University of North
Carolina School of Medicine,
soon realized that his experi-
ence was not isolated. In the
decades since, he found that
this research practice almost
has become an initiation rite
into the scientific professions.
The doctor gives many exam-
ples of the trying treatment of
career newcomers in his latest
book, Ready Or Not, Here Life
Comes (Simon & Schuster;
$26), and he has many sugges-
tions for preparing young peo-
ple to survive successfully as
beginners in the workforce.
"I decided to write the book
after watching a lot of my
patients grow up and noticing
that some of them were having
hard times establishing them-
selves in careers — either
deciding what they wanted to
do with their lives or knowing
what they wanted to do but
having a lot of trouble starting
at the bottom:' says Levine, 65,
whose previous books include
A Mind at a Time and The Myth
of Laziness.
.
"I give a lot of examples of
the way people get bashed
around early in careers, and
nobody prepares them for that.
There are setbacks, injustices
and impasses kids ought to be
reading about — not to scare
them but to prepare them."
Levine's book, exploring what
he
, terms "work-life unreadi-
ness" and describing issues

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30

being faced as recent graduates
hunt and find their first profes-
sional jobs, points out four crit-
ical areas he believes need more
attention early on: personal
insight, interpretation of expec-
tations and opportunities, ana-
lytical tools and interpersonal
skills.
•
With a target audience of
people in their 20s as well as
parents and school policy mak-
ers, Levine explains why educa-
tional programs ought to focus
on students' strengths instead
of a combination of general
subjects and why students need
to understand office politics
before being placed in the
midst of it all.

Jewish Work Ethic

"When you're a kid, expecta-
tions are clearly spelled out for
you," says Levine, a professor of
pediatrics and founder of All
Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit
institute for the study of differ-
ences in learning. "There are
frameworks and predictability
for [the very young], and it's
clear what they're supposed to
be doing at any given moment
and how they're going to get
rewarded.
"Then, all of a sudden, they
get into careers, and they have
to start showing initiative. They
have to start building some of
their own structure and self
discipline."
Levine, who grew up in a
Jewish household and gives lots
of talks at Jewish day schools,
believes that there are ethics in
Judaism that promole produc-
tivity and support working
capacities and careers. He
believes his parents raised him
in a way that helped him get
through the adjustment as he
began work.
"I think one of the problems
we're facing today is that kids
have almost no interest in

adults:' he explains. "They're
interested in each other, and
their role models are celebri-
ties, who are very unrealistic
role models.
"My parents got me interest-
ed in adults. Every time they
had company, I had to be there,
conversing with them. That got
me feeling very comfortable
with adults and the adult world.
"My parents also took me to
work so I saw what they were
doing. Whenever my father was
having problems with his busi-
ness, he would discuss them
very openly at the dinner table
so that I was able to participate
in that process."
Levine says his parents never
pressured him academically
and thereby communicated
their trust in him. In this way,
the author's mom and dad let
him develop a sense of self-
motivation and responsibility.

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for kick 10
Grow
Pr( . rduct-i ve
Adults—and What W e

Can Do About It

No Blanket Rifles

Although Levine has come up
with basic principles for a job
readiness attitude, he also
keeps in mind the individuality
of each youngster.
"I'm a believer in all kinds of
minds:' says Levine, who
directs clinical programs for
the evaluation of children and
young adults with problematic
learning, development and/or
behavioral adjustment. "What
works with one kid may not
work with another. I don't like
blanket rules.
"I think one job of a parent is
to get to know his or her kid -
really well and try to figure out
what works with that child. I
could never write a recipe book
of what you do for all kids.
There is so many differences in
the Way they're wired and in the
way they think."
Levine, who has furthered his
special interest in animals by
establishing and attending to a

D.

farm shared with his wife,
advises parents to give children
unstructured time to play with
other youngsters and exercise
imagination. The doctor hopes
to engage youngsters' thin-king
through a new writing project
aimed at presenting case stud-
ies for them to analyze.
"Ready Or Not, Here Life
Comes represents the logical
outcome of my other books,"
Levine says. "I think every par-
ent I've ever seen has one ques-
tion in mind, and that has to do
with how the child will turn out
when grown to age 23 or 24. It
just struck me that I needed to
write a book dealing with how
ready will a 24-year-old be to
be 24."

Dr. Levine wrote his book
for people in their 20s,
as well as for parents
and school policy makers.

❑

December 1 - 2005

a.

