William Damon, Professor of Education

Why are so many young people “failing to launch” –– living at home longer, lacking career motivation, and struggling to make a timely transition to adulthood? The answer, says Professor William Damon, is that homes and schools are not adequately nurturing kids’ sense of purpose.

Six years ago, Damon began interviewing and surveying hundreds of young people ages 12 to 22 across the United States to understand who’s thriving, who isn’t, and why. The results of his study have been compiled in the newly released The Path to Purpose: Helping Our Children Find Their Calling in Life (Free Press, 2008). In this book, Damon, director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence and one of the world’s leading scholars on human development, identifies why so many young people end up stalled in their emotional and intellectual development, and offers key methods that teachers, parents, and policy makers can use to help today’s youth move in a more positive direction. Marguerite Rigoglioso caught up with Damon in May.

Why did you embark on this research?

I’ve been working for 25 years now on character development in young people, but until I came to Stanford 10 years ago and started thinking about the concept of “purpose,” I realized I’d been working around the edges of the most important factor involved. I came up with the idea that long-term goals provide people with a kind of “moral North Star” to guide and motivate them. “Purpose” had not been studied developmentally in young people.

What does your research say about our youth?

We found one in five kids to be very purposeful, very clear about where they were headed and why, and preparing themselves in realistic ways to get there. One in four kids was at the other extreme –– drifting and discouraged. About 60 percent were somewhere in the middle. They may have had dreams, but they didn’t have any realistic plan for achieving them. Or they were doing what was expected of them, but didn’t have a clear sense as to why.

Are youth from lower socioeconomic backgrounds more prone to purposelessness?

No. We surveyed people from a variety of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic walks of life. We found that the same percentage of kids is just drifting even in fairly elite college populations.

Is there something different about this generation than previous ones?

The fact that young people are floundering or searching is not new. What’s different now is that young people are taking longer to move out of their parents’ house, choose a career, get married, and so forth –– they’re prolonging becoming adults, essentially. Globalization and economic instability are contributing to this. You no longer grow up with a fisherman dad and become a fisherman, or plan to spend your life at IBM. But a lot of kids are not dealing with this in a constructive way. They’re just plain confused and anxious. That’s the result of a failure on the part of grown-ups. We’re not providing them with what they need to cultivate a sense of purpose.

What can schools do to help young people become more purposeful and productive?

Teachers have their hands tied by the current single-minded emphasis on tests and training students in a narrow set of skills. But given that reality, teachers can do something as simple as sharing what they find meaningful in their own careers. That would be an inspiring example of how to come up with a calling in life. There are ways to use every part of the curriculum to encourage kids to consider the big questions in life –– the questions of why. Why do people split genes or learn about history? You can also build in discussion on the controversies about the topic being learned. One high school I’ve been involved with in Israel incorporated the ethical issues of genetic engineering in their teaching about molecular biology, and the kids became extremely motivated about studying. Bringing in the human dimensions about a subject is an important way to help people start to think in the direction of purpose.

We also must stop cutting out extracurricular activities. A lot of kids are not going to find their purpose in life in “the three Rs.” They will become artists, sports players, foreign language specialists. So when you take away French Club, for example, you take away kids’ options. It’s a misguided move.

What do young people with a healthy sense of purpose look like?

On the surface, they simply look like normal teens. They’re friendly, open, and a little rebellious. They’re also highly self-confident and optimistic. They have a can-do and entrepreneurial attitude. Interestingly, their sense of purpose has not been spoon fed to them by their parents; most of them have found it outside the home. Most of all, they’re dedicated to something larger than themselves.

What do you hope will result from this study in the field of education?

One blank hole that we’re seeing among young people is a lack of civic commitment. When I was a kid, half of my class wanted to be president. Now we get less than one in 100 who expresses anything like that. There’s a lot of cynicism and disinterest. Kids may do volunteer work in the community, but they’re not engaged in the larger political process. This is a special concern for the future of our democracy. I hope that this work will encourage policy makers in the field of education to create a broader vision of what learning is about. It’s not just about teaching kids how to take tests well. It’s about imparting the broader skills and sense of calling that will make them into productive citizens.