Concordia High School
Concordia, Kansas

Teacher: Judy Zimmerman

 

 

 

Rites of Passage

By Lindsay Hanson

 

 

Human nature compels members of the species to feel a need to belong.  Though this concept is instilled early on, it is not the decision of the individual whether or not to automatically become part of a society.  People are subject to judgement, and they must pass the threshold of a new circle of peers by fulfilling certain prerequisites.  Regardless of the stipulations, proving oneself is the key to being taken seriously.  In America, adolescents turn eighteen and society expects them to perform as adults.  However, many teens today lack the guidance they need to push them in the direction of success.  Without a standard “test” for society’s teens, they cannot easily confirm their legitimacy as adults.  As a remedy to this common lack of responsibility, many suggest installing a senior project into America’s education system, which will become their rite of passage into adulthood.  Rites of passage in other countries can be compared to those in America that are used similarly as a tool to gain respect and acceptance.

 

On earth in 1999, although diversity is gaining popularity, humans still enjoy congregating with those who are similar.  Thus, countless contrasting circles are formed.  Though they differ in make-up, they commonly utilize rites of passage.  To become part of a group, one must take the necessary steps to join.  For an all-encompassing example—in the womb, a fetus is labeled a human.  However, it cannot be called a human being until it has been offered to the world by birth.  Everyone shares this rite of passage.  Another example occurs on a lower level when teens adhere to different cliques. One cannot become a “prep” without dressing in snazzy clothes.  One cannot be a “druggie” without first taking drugs. One cannot classify as a “drama rat” without involvement in a play.  The list could continue forever, but the point is that unfortunately, people cannot label themselves as they wish to be called.  Their own actions and choices do the labeling.

 

In the land of the free and the home of the brave, rites of passage are not laws.  Democracy is not taken lightly.  Again, the purpose for a rite of passage is to gain the respect and acceptance of others.  A common positive rite of passage in this country is graduation from high school. Education is required until the age of eighteen, but it takes extra vehemence to endure school until the end. In order to achieve any degree of success in today’s job market, one must prove him/herself by vouching that he/she is at least a high school graduate.  Another rite is employing voting rights at the age of eighteen.  It is law that one must be at least eighteen to vote, but it is good citizenship, which advances society, to vote once one turns eighteen. 

Americans exhibit good citizenship, but they also employ rites that are closest to judgement by God.  Baptism, confirmation, and marriage are religious rites of passage that advance Christians to the next step in their walks with the Lord.  Baptism, either at birth or as an adolescent, is a ceremony in which the believer is sprinkled with or immersed in holy water (depending upon the age of the believer).  Many believe this process cleanses the body of sin and guarantees a pass through the gates of Heaven.  Confirmation is the next step in the believer’s walk with Christ, because it tells the church that the believer is willing to take on the responsibilities of being a Christian for him/herself.  Marriage, a step that almost all religions practice, shows the higher being that the couple is joining for love, commitment, and children. Someone of Jewish faith would also undertake religious commitments, but instead of baptism, the Jewish would hold Bar/Bat Mitzvah.  Here, when a boy or girl reaches the age of thirteen, they are said to be of “commandment age” and able to fulfill the mitzvah of fasting on Yom Kippur. While these rites of passage give the believer a sense of accomplishment, they are primarily a tradition of proving to God that he/she is committed to Him.  These are all very common practice in the U.S.

 

Outside American soil, rites of passage are only similar to those in the U.S. because most have religious connotations.  In Tianan, the ancient capitol of Taiwan, the Kailung Temple is dedicated to Chi Niang-ma, or the Seven Maids, who are viewed as protectors of children.  Therefore, the young folk of Tainan flock for their coming-of-age ceremony at age sixteen.  This ceremony is not implemented as religiously now as it was when employers used sixteen as the dividing age for determining whether employees were paid as children or adults.

Just because a practice is accepted in one culture does not mean that it will be acclaimed elsewhere.  In 28 African countries, female genital mutilation is a coming-of-age ritual that is usually performed on girls between ages four and twelve.  A female elder executes the operation using a razor, knife, or a piece of glass without anesthetic.  Agonizingly painful, it robs the girl of sexual pleasure and frequently causes medical problems including hemorrhaging, infections, and infertility.  Despite its brutality, female circumcision, as it is otherwise known, supposedly ensures that a woman is clean and chaste.  Uncut women are associated with promiscuity and lack social respectability. In this case, the rite of passage should be banned due to inhumanity.  This case relates in no way to rites performed in America.

 

Whether deemed by God or society, a rite of passage is a major step in someone’s life.  It marks the removal of one stage in life and the addition of another.  When rites of passage do not exist, as in the case of a teen moving into adulthood, chaos can sometimes result.  Rites of passage are necessary, and they implement a stability that would otherwise be ambiguous.

 

Works Cited

Brunner, Borgna.  “A Harsh Rite of Passage – The Abolition of Female Genital Mutilation.”  Lycos, Inc.  1999.  5 pgs.  Available Internet:  http://infoplease.lycos.com/spot/fgm1.html

 

Johnson, Percy.  "Bar/Bat Mitzvah."  Life Cycle. Internet.  Jan. 1999. 1 pg. Available Internet:  http://collections.ic.gc.ca/art_context/tbar.htm

 

"Kailung Temple."  World-Wide Chinese Network. 1998.  1 pg.  Available Internet:  http://taiwan.wcn.com.tw/en/tainan/h11.html

 

 “Rites of Passage – Baptism.”  GCSE Religious Studies. 1998.  5 pg.  Available Internet:  http://www.hopkins.ndirect.co.uk/revision/ch2/4/1.html

 

Questions

 

Q1 – What does Margaret Mead say at the start of her 1961 Preface to Coming of Age In Samoa that is reminiscent of a current Army recruiting commercial?

 

Margaret says “young people who, in the United States were becoming less than they might be.”  This is similar to the Army motto, “Be all that you can be.”

 

Q2 – Which of the following issues of the 1920’s are no longer issues today?

The importance of the language spoken in the home

Familial pressures on children

Misconceptions about race and color

The effects of artificially separating children from knowledge of birth, love, and death.

 

Numbers (1) and (4) are no longer issues.

 

Number one is no longer important, because so many families speak different languages here in the United States.  This country is so culturally diverse, and that is due in part to all these families keeping their native languages alive in the home.  Speaking English at home is no longer an issue.

 

Number four is no longer relevant because adoption has become a popular and accepted choice for many in the latter portion of the 20^th century.  Adopted children no longer face the persecution and rejection that was so prevalent in the 1920’s, and many have been successful in finding their birth parents and family histories if they have wished to do so.  Just because their biological parents are not raising these children does not mean that they are not loved and do not have parents.

 

Q3 – Do you agree with Margaret Mead that “culture is man-made and that man is free to design it closer to the desires o his own heart”?  What definition of “culture” do you find in your dictionary?

 

I agree that culture is solely up to the people.  If one is born outside the country but immigrates to the United States and becomes a citizen, it is his/her choice to continue or discontinue the traditions of the past.  A specific culture does not exist in the United States, because culture is all about what the people come from.  Since the U.S. is a “tossed salad,” these cultures have the ability to thrive in the same environment without imposing on one another.

 

The definition of “culture” from Webster’s New World College Dictionary, copyright 1997, is “the ideas, customs, skills, arts, etc. of a people or a group that are transferred, communicated, or passed along, as in or to succeeding generations.”

 

Q4 – In her writings Margaret Mead was advocating:

a return to primitive ways

greater knowledge and control over the civilizing process

an integration of the primitive and civilized

none of the above

 

Margaret was advocating a greater knowledge and control over the civilizing process (2).

 

Q5 – Comment on Susan’s speech (page 60 A Tribe Apart).  Do you and your peers really want adults t recognize what is going on and to enforce “boundaries and structure”?

 

Boundaries do need to be set in order to create some guidance for those who need to be guided.  Some people push the limits to gain attention.  These few people are the entire purpose of boundaries.  On the contrary, most other adolescents need freedom to make mistakes while they learn the processes of life for themselves.  The best understanding comes through experience.

 

Q6 – Write tree things that you “absolutely, positively know, saw, or experienced concerning drugs and alcohol among” students at your school.

 

There are students who drink and drive regularly.

Some students have come to school functions under the influence of alcohol.

Smoking pot is point of curiosity that some students have explored.

 

Q7 – Do you have a solution for the “plights of the black teenager”?  (page 88 A Tribe Apart)

 

Black teens that wish to overcome a stereotype need to find others who are in the same situation.  Strength comes in numbers, and being a leader in raising awareness will eventually bring about change.

 

Q8 – Would it be a relief if all you had to do was “go to classes and learn”?  Would you be happy if you were home-schooled or attended a single-sex private school where academics were presented in an exciting way and learning was admired even by your peers?

 

Because my school is a population of only about 400 students, I feel safe walking through the halls.  Even so, students at my school are instead distracted by social and familial pressures.  Because these problems also haunt home-schooled and private school students, I believe that it is unnecessary for me in rural America t pursue a different kind of education.  I it is impossible to “go to classes and learn” if these distractions are present, but they are universal and impossible to dodge.

 

Students learn about interacting with others at public school, which is critical to thriving in the job market.  I would not be happier if I was thrown into a private school, where learning would be more admired by my peers.  I have enough confidence in myself that I do not need to worry about others’ opinions on my desire to learn.

 

Q9 – Comment on the line from Pete Seeger:  “Schools are like prisons because they don’t teach you how to live,” and Jonathan’s comment “People in school are dulled by the remoteness to the real world.”  Would more classes incorporating community-based learning be helpful? (incorporating activities with relevance to actual real life situations)

 

It is true that schools do not “teach you how to live,” but this is where experience is key.  Students must learn how to live by following the example of their guardians.  For thousands of years people have learned in this fashion.  It is not necessary to impose moral classes on how to act as an adult upon adolescents today, because by this age, they are no longer especially impressionable.  They have molded their influences into their own opinions.  Teens are in the midst of their most stubborn stag of life, so anything forced upon them will likely be rejected.

 

Q10 – Comment on the “bottom line” (page 364 A Tribe Apart).

 

“The bottom line: we can lecture kids to our heart’s content but if they don’t care what we think, or there is no relationship between us that matters to them or they think we a re ignorant of the reality of their lives, they will not listen.”

 

This is saying that one must establish relationships on a personal level with teens in order to reach them.  With a personal relationship will come a mutual respect, and the adolescent will feel more comfortable opening up to the adult.  The pathway of communication comes only through this openness.