Ready or Not, Here Life Comes

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Customer Reviews:

A Gem for Students, Educators, and Parents! [Posted on 2005-04-22]
Dr. Mel Levine makes some good points in describing why so many of today's young adults have trouble with the transition from the world of school to the world of work. For starters, Levine states that many of the skills needed for school may be different from the ones they will need during a career. For example, think of all the multiple-choice tests you may have taken in high school or at a university. I agree with Levine that these tests really don't prepare a student for anything important in the adult world.

Levine also says that kids need to be more interested in the working lives of people. I think this is a great point. So many kids grow up idolizing sports stars or entertainers. Instead, they should try to make more connections with the adult world. Kids and students should focus on their feasible futures because the odds of making it in sports or entertainment are minute. It also talks about reading biographies of people you admire (to get an idea about how they navigated life). However, with technology and other reasons jobs are changing so fast that, as Levine notes, role models even within a family are an endangered species.

A lot of the advice is very practical. For example, it helps to know what abilities you have, what you enjoy doing, where you see yourself in x amount of years, etc. If you know this, you will not make the mistake of just taking whatever job comes along. This could easily turn into being stuck in a job you hate after awhile. It is important to keep in mind that a willingness to start way down and climb way up is, of course, the American Dream.

Bottom Line: It is a great/essential/interesting read for educators, parents, and students.

Enough already! [Posted on 2005-07-29]
Mel Levine's basic proposition is that our culture is dysfunctional in its ability to transition young adults, whom he calls "startup adults", from high school and college to productive working lives and careers. Levine passes blame all around - youth culture's fascination with being "cool" and instant gratification, the public school system and higher ed. system's failure to prepare students for reality, etc. Levine presents a simple four-part framework for understanding and dealing with the problems he identifies.

I honestly can't disagree with Levine's observations and conclusions, although I find his approach to be somewhat predictable and trivial. Yes, there is a problem, and yes, we can be teaching our young people better about life's stages and transitions. Perhaps we can even do some good if we follow Levine's prescription for setting things right.

However, I think Levine is best understood as a product of his generation, specifically the Dr. Spock, baby-boom, "Me" generation. Although Levine has identified some legitimate problems, he rings hollow because he comes off like the next in a long line of navel-gazing baby-boomers. As such, he seems to have a blind spot for the failings of his own generation and its guiding "Me" philosophy, and so ends up treating symptoms rather than the true disease.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into all this, since I am inherently suspicious of all things related to his generation. As I said, taken on its own, Levine makes some good observations and offers some advice that may be helpful. However, I can honestly say that I can't read one more book like this w/o thinking, "ENOUGH ALREADY!"

Ready or not, here life comes [Posted on 2006-08-15]
Another good book to read by Mel Levine. His books are very informative and you do learn alot from him.

Bravo!! Dr. Levine- Keep writing!!! [Posted on 2006-10-12]
This book is a excellent resource tool for educators of all ages, no matter what professional role in the school.

We must continue to learn ways to encourage, enhance, challenge and enable
today's youth to discover their personal goals is life. What can be targeted, through their talents, yet giving them a reason for not giving up. We all have a purpose to fulfill in life. Just need to be challenged, guided to find out what it is!

This information can also be used with parents/ guardians who need insight for their child to find a healthy balance, while tackling the teenage years, peer pressures and other obstacles faced. Any guidance counselor, should consider this book, mine could have benefitted- no clue where to direct my future goals in life.

Like that old saying goes... " Don't judge a book by it's cover.", any books written by Dr.Levine are worth considering.

Greaty resource [Posted on 2007-07-30]
I found this book as I have many of his books to be a great foundation to helping understand these kids. This one is even more practical as it tgives good insight and steps to help young people enter the world productively; Special Ed or Reg Ed it is great! I good resource foor kids and adults in preparing for transition!

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