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What do you remember of your teenage years? You might not memorize them vividly, but I'm sure your parents will not forget them, as teenagers are the nightmare to their moms and dads.
Some teenagers are rude to their parents, don't do their homework, stay out late at night，hang out with bad people，and make lots of bad decisions. They give their parents and teachers tons of headaches.
But why do these things always happen？ What's behind the crazy adolescent behaviors?
New scientific research shows that it is probably not the fault of teenagers, because their brains are not fully developed yet. That sounds a good excuse when they are out of control or behave badly.
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Teenage years are a special period of time in one's life that young people grow from child to adult. It refers to the age group from 13 to 19. And there is another word that has the similar meaning, adolescence. The adjective word of it is adolescent.
In the past we thought human brains finished development in the earlier years of one’s life，which had been written down on the textbook of university students. However, the new research papers published in the late 1990s suggests that human brains are developing into the 20s. It has definitely overthrown the old dogma.
Scientists find out that the region in the brain that controls one’s behavior and planning is not fully developed in teenagers’. The area in the brain, called pre-frontal cortex, just behind the forehead, controlling conscious thinking and processing is not mature. So if we expect too much from teenagers in relation to high-level cognitive task it might be far beyond their capacities.
Now teenagers do not need to lie to their teachers saying that their homework had been left on the bus or eaten by dogs, they can just say that my brain is not developed enough for planning my homework .
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Professor Blakemore from the University of London talked about this subject
on the BBC programme ‘Scientific Life’． She said that the understanding of our brain is developing until the 20s is quite new. For example, when she was at university, the textbook told that human brains completed its development in the early years of one’s life. It’s completely false. New study suggests that our brain is developing continuously into the twenties。
The research papers on this subject published in the scientific journal just appeared in the late nineties. As a result it has changed our perception of teenager behaviours and acts.
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So the professor has given a good excuse to teenagers that not being able to control their behaviors and attitudes towards teachers and parents finds new foundation.
Now they can say that due to their brains are not developed enough so they cannot do the high level cognitive tasks such as making good decisions and controlling their behaviors.
The philosophy behind the acts of teenagers is that their brains are not fully developed，so teachers and parents have to understand their behaviors and actions physically and psychologically.
When parenting and teaching teenagers, we have to think about the other way given that their brains are still undergoing development. That’s new challenge for educators, obviously.
