Young people and old people do not always agree with each other. They sometimes have different ideas about living, working and playing. But in one program in New York State, adults and teenagers live together in a friendly way.
Each summer 200 teenagers and 50 adults are invited to join the program. They live together for eight weeks as members of a special work group. Everyone works for seven hours a day. They do so not only to keep busy, but also to find meaning and happiness in work. Some teenagers work in the woods or on the farms near the village. Some of them learn to make things like tables, chairs and something like that and to build houses. It is the adults who teach them to do those.
There are a few free hours each day and weekends are free, too. During the free hours some of the teenagers learn to take photos or paint pictures, others sit around and talk, sing or dance. Each teenagers has its own way to spend his free time.
When people live together, rules are necessary. In this program the teenagers and the adults make the rules together. If someone breaks a rule, the problem goes before the whole group. They talk about it and ask, "What should we do about it?"
One of the teenagers talks about his experience, "You stop thinking only about yourself. You learn to think about the group."