Kecoughtan High School

Hampton, Virgina

Teacher: Emma Flood

 

 

 

An Analysis of the United States’ Rite of Passage

By Christopher Salnoske

 

In The Rites of Passage, Arnold Van Gennep [says] “The life of an individual in any society is a series of passages from on e age to another and from one occupation to another.” A single rite of passage, initiated by local communities is not the answer for American youth because existing milestones, such as achieving a diploma, have proven ineffective. A single rite of passage would not assure long-term productivity, and adult responsibilities cannot be conquered in an instant. Acceptance in to the adult world is a gradual process.

 

Graduation, a milestone in the adolescence’s journey toward becoming an adult, is a modern rite of passage. It holds as a national standard at which point, in the United States culture, the youth have already demonstrated their ability to manage responsibility. Representing the accomplishment of twelve rigorous years of schooling the diploma reinforces the positive effects of hard work, dedication, and prioritizing. The diploma also serves another purpose. The achievement allows the student to further education, to join the work force, to involve him or herself in the adult world. With the national rite of passage, children still ban together into gangs, they pierce their body, experiment with drugs, alcohol, tobacco and violence. In How To Fight Back, Jerry Adler and Karen Springen say, “The utopian ideal is for children to stop bullying one another. ‘I don’t think we’ll ever change the reality that kids group themselves into cliques,’ says Dwyer. [Kevin Dwyer is a certified psychologist and principal author of a school safety guide the government sent to every school in the country last fall.] ‘But it’s the respect for the other person that’s critical. Bullying should not be tolerated in any school in the United States.’”

 

In the American Indian cultures, the youth would prove they could survive alone in the wilderness, by enduring hardships and danger. This was considered their rite of  passage although this one event alone could not have accepted this young member into the adult world. He or she must prove to the adults, qualities worthy of recognition. In the United States, throughout the twelve years the child serves as a student, he or she learns skills that will help them when they enter the adult world. Learning is defined as a relatively durable change in behavior or knowledge that is due to experience. Therefore learning can occur anywhere and is occurring gradually during the life of the individual. If the student is constantly learning, then there is no specific point where the individual changes from a child to an adolescent. “Children learn about how the world operates; its rules, roles, and expectations and about their [own] emotions and sense of self through free play,” says career expert, Barbara Moses. “The current obsession with accelerating children’s learning robs them of these vital opportunities.”

 

Culture and tradition are man-made. Adults in the American culture have a large amount of responsibilities. They have jobs, manage the household, many raise children, they pay taxes and they run the government.  The list is endless. A child handed the weight of all these responsibilities at once would surely crumble. On the other hand, conditioned with each responsibility separately children become successful adults. Many children are considered latchkey kids. Everyday after school they let themselves into their homes and are responsible for doing their homework, while they wait for their parents to come home. Children attending high school take on higher-level tasks, such as providing transportation to and from school, joining clubs, after school activities, and even jobs.

 

Due to the fact that acceptance into the adult world is a gradual process, a single rite of passage, initiated by local communities is not the answer for American youth. Existing milestones such as achieving a diploma have proven ineffective, a single right of passage would not assure long-term productivity, and adult responsibilities cannot be conquered in an instant, this shows that the passage from adolescence to adult is accomplished in a series of steps.