Act Your Age (1949)

[Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] the [Music] yes J what is it well Mr Evans um Miss Black wanted me to bring this to you oh bunch of sit down Jim I understand you have an unusual pencil Jim yes sir that is it's nothing special but you're rather proud of it it has my name on it I wanton it in an essay contest May I see it mhm personally I think that something like like this is better for carving I'll fix the desk Mr Edmonds I'll sand it down and refinish it you won't be able to tell where I scratched it at all that's a good idea Jim I'll begin today after school that will be fine well what else do you want me to do Mr Edmonds perhaps you can help me with the problem I'd like your advice Jim my advice yes I've got quite a serious problem there are great many young people in the school JY each is an individual but in one important way they're all alike they're all growing up is that the problem Mr Edmunds yes growing up is a problem because well I remember one time I watched some of the boys play ball you've probably seen it too the boys were all about your age in years they're young men but sometimes in their behavior they act like children that's it the boy batting struck out and what a fuss he made he was a young man in years but the way he behaved was more in keep keeping with a 5-year-old when you see a child do the same thing you think oh well he'll grow up sometime but at 15 or 16 this boy was still reacting the same way he was still showing violent temper when little things went wrong for him so the question is why doesn't he grow up why does he still behave as a child how can we help him get rid of these leftovers from childish behavior that sort of behavior we call an infantile reaction infant well whatever it is it's spoils the game for others why can't he act his age I guess scratching of desk boils up for others too why can't I act my agej that's what I'd like to know Jim well you know what to do about the desk but now this pencil if you were a first grader I'd just keep it wouldn't I oh but Mr Edmonds I'm not not a first grader oh you're not so suppose you start fixing that desk come back for your pencil when you feel you're ready for it yes sir goodby Jim why can't I Act My Age huh that's a good one oh well fix up the desk and forget about the whole thing pencil gone oh yes maybe one of these pencils will do it hey act your age no use getting sore that won't open the can hello oh Mr Olsen need some help son why yes do you have a knife or something to open this yes I guess so I'm using yours to carve up a desk I see no a pencil a pencil Bright croper Young Fells in this school every day think up a new way to act like babies Never Grow Up still little boys playing with mors pencils knives pulling girls hair well there no sense in cleaning up here I'm until you through I'll come back later still little boys playing with marbles eh huh but maybe it's true remember what Bill did yesterday he was sitting right there I guess he thought no one was looking when he took Jean's notebook was he cheating probably and that's a childish thing to do that's a child's way out then there was Phyllis the other day she seemed to be worrying about something and when Miss Black called in her and she wasn't ready with an answer why you'd have thought it was something terrible that had happened she almost cried just like a little girl yeah that's it an infantile reaction why don't we act our age I'm going to talk to Mr Edmonds again after school tomorrow I've given it a lot of thought and well I'm not the only one Mr Edmonds everyone seems to act child this sometimes but I don't understand just why well it's partly because of the way we grow up your body's growing up now Jim you're growing much taller these years but it may be some years more before your shoulders really broaden out and you become fully grown growing up emotionally is much the same different parts of our personalities grow at different rates some of us never grow off entirely so one side of a fellow's personel it could be growing up and another still infantile is that right yes for example you've seen the girl who always has to win an argument most of the time she behaves like a young lady but let someone disagree with her well she might just as well be 5 years old we see reactions like this with young children then there's the fellow who can't take a joke he laughs as hard as any one at most jokes but when the jok's on him watch out his 5-year-old brother would react the same way there's the boy who constantly shows off to gain attention there's the girl who cries over Trifles then remember there's the ball player who becomes violently angry when he loses out those are some of the many infantile reactions we see around us every day they indicate that a part of one's personality isn't growing up with the rest now what we need is some method of measuring our growth comparing various parts of our personalities say I have an idea Mr Edmonds I think I can figure out my age anyway I'd like to try just a minute don't you want your pencil no sir I'll wait until I know how old I am let's see how old am I when someone disagrees with me when someone pokes fun at me when I want attention when I am confused when I don't get what I want there I guess those are pretty important times to watch out for infantile reactions now to rate my age today and then see how well I can grow oh hello Mr Olson you again carved up another desk already no I'm just trying to figure out how old I am ask your mother no I mean how old I am and the way I behave oh don't rate yourself too high I won't bother you will I no this is too important I thought of it two days ago so I made several copies of this and had my parents rate my age in each of these points and my best friend my rating wasn't exactly high in some places it looks like a good rating system what do you do now well I'll have to work hard to bring my rating up here for instance where it says how old am I when I don't get what I want I rate a myself 10 years old and my dad put it even lower than that so I'm going to get in the habit of controlling my temper and maybe next month I'll have a better rating and by next year I want to catch up with my real age that's something to look forward to I'll say well I'm not going to tell you all my ratings but I thought you might want a copy of this I certainly would I think everyone here should rate himself and have his friends rate him this way to make sure he grows up evenly and gets rid of those infantile reactions uh I think I'd like my pencil back now what there on the desk oh thanks thanks Mr Edmonds goodbye hello you wouldn't you like to try rating yourself on a sheet like [Music] [Music] this