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Older guys in my youth organisations, primarily sports, were important to me in addition to my father. They informed and helped my social development quite a bit in ways that other fully adult men couldn't. They were just 2-6 years older than me but when you're like 14, even 2 years is a lot.
That said, I really agree about role models. I never understood having famous people as role models at all and it felt completely astro turfed. Perhaps things are different now with all the online parasocial relationships, I don't know.
This is also why kids’ TV shows cast characters 2-3 years older than the audience. For example a Disney show aimed at 10-11 year olds will cast 12-14 year old actors, because those very same 10 year olds will consider a show that casts children their own age as “for babies” or too uncool and young for them.
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This is something modern schools struggle with, as they separate the children by age and various cross-age activities are often electives. This is especially important now, when children have fewer older siblings and don't hang around the neighborhood in mixed-age companies. Perhaps the Japanese are right when they force everyone into clubs.
Do they actually force everyone into clubs in schools? Anime left me with the impression that joining a club is just something that you have or want to do because it's part of high-school life, not something you need to do by actual requirement.
As far as I'm aware there isn't some national legal requirement but many schools have it has a requirement and for the rest the expectations is so strong that there might as well be a literal requirement.
That said, you could always join something like a self study club if you don't want to interact with others.
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