Newell-Fonda High School
Newell, Iowa
Teacher: Connie Doonan

 

 

 Growing Up In America

By Jared Witt

12th Grade

 

 

Every morning I wake up the same way.  I force myself out of bed to follow the same steps that I follow every other morning.  I take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, groom myself, and head out the door to the school where I learn lessons in life supposedly from a teacher.  If this were true, I would not need a life of my own.  I would not need to get my first job or learn the consequences of the decisions I make.  They would all be taught to me in my school, right?  Not true, I need development that the school cannot give me.  The school cannot teach me the rights and wrongs of life, how to love, how to deal with conflicts, no textbook can teach me that.  The rights of passage for America’s youth are already present; most people just fail to realize it.

           

When I first started school, I was told I would meet friends and learn new and interesting things; I did.  I met the friends that I still am with today and learned probably the most important lesson of my life.  These lessons included tying my shoes, learning to read, and how to respect other people.  In junior high, my high school basketball coach taught me the “lessons of life”.  I experienced my first kiss, my first dance, and my first heartbreak.  I found out what would happen if I did not accomplish an assigned task.  These special life lessons took place so fast; I did not have time to realize their importance.  I did not have time to prepare and much stress was forced upon me. 

           

Then came high school, the proving ground for all young adults.  I entered thinking I would be top dog, being able to do whatever I wanted to; after all, I was in high school now.  I learned another important life lesson, seniority.  I found out that respect and leadership is earned; if it is not earned, then suffering the consequences of being young and dealing with three years of torture is the proving ground before it can be obtained.  For me I earned this respect early.  In high school, I was forced to learn how to manage the little time I had in order to do various things.  I needed to be able to participate in sports, make time for studies, make time for others, and finally make time for myself in order to relax.  As a freshman, school does not come as easy as it did in Junior High; instead the teachers have a set goal that they want to obtain in their one hundred eighty days of teaching.  I learned how to prepare for semester tests and how to deal with events that occurred outside of the school but would affect me in the school.  All of the pressure that was put on me was good for me; I am glad that it happened because it prepared me for a future.  Now I am a senior and I am learning what it is like to be an adult.  I have to make major life decisions on what to do after I leave this undemanding high school job.  I must decide between continuing my education or if I will work at The Buckle for the rest of my life.  I and I alone have to make these life decisions, not my teachers, not my parents, not even the president.  If that is not a right of passage then I do not know what is.

           

I have made my decision and cleared one of the many major hurdles in my life.  I plan on attending college and majoring in Management Information Systems, a career that will lead me to a job later in life.  I will attend college and go through the second right of passage, if not the most important one.  I will have to deal with living without my parents, meeting new people, getting a job, managing time, budgeting money, and adjusting to my new life.  All of these events will occur at a level that I do not understand, but I will. I have to; it is my destiny.  I am prepared for the worst that the world can offer, and I encourage it to meet me head on; otherwise; I will leave it in the dust.

           

In this life, rights of passage for youth and young adults already exist, they occur naturally in day-to-day life.  These rights of passage are all around us, they occur in little things like a child tying shoes or in major things like retiring.  In my 18 years of life, I have learned many new things already, and I will continue to do so until I die.  So does their need to be a right of passage?  Look around and it becomes evident that LIFE is a right of passage that we carelessly overlook.

 

Questions

 

 

Q1.       I believe that Margaret Mead was referring to teenagers not being all that they could be in life.  There are a lot better things for teenagers to be doing than what they are now.

 

Q2.      In this question, I believe that the language that is spoken in the home, family pressures on children and misconceptions about race and color are still issues in this time and day. On the other hand, I believe that the effects of artificially separating children from knowledge of birth love and death is no longer and issue because these things are taught in school and by parents at the right time.          

 

Q3.      I agree that culture is man made; the dictionary states that culture is the act of developing the intellectual and moral facilities especially by education.  Any person is free currently to do whatever they want.  So I believe that culture is man made do to the fact we are allowed to choose our own destiny.         

 

Q4.      I believe that Margaret Mead was advocating having a greater knowledge and control over the civilizing process.  By doing this, adults can better understand the adolescent culture.        

 

Q5.      I think that if adults try to recognize what is going on and to enforce “boundaries and structure” many adolescents will revolt and the parents will have less control than with what they started.  Some parents on the other hand who do not have much control and do the things listed above will gain more control.

 

Q6.      The three things that I have positively seen are the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and the distribution of alcohol.

 

Q7.      Since I am white, I found it hard to find a solution for the plight of the black teenager, so I did not find a solution.

 

Q8.      I would not find it a relief to go to a same sex school or to go to classes and just learn the text.  I believe that this would seclude me from what is going on in the real word and would take away from my growing up.  I need to have freedom and space, as well as, friends and new experiences.

 

Q9.      Those types of classes may help but it would still be repetitive and would still be in a school environment.  Maybe out of school, interims should be taught to students who need to get out and experience the real world.

 

Q10.    I believe that the bottom line represents what students’ need in life to survive. Adolescents need adult figures.