Paoli High School

Paoli, Oklahoma
Teacher: Melinda Alfred

 

 

Should Our Communities Institute

A Rite of Passage For American Youth?

by J.D. Bostic

12th grade

 

 

According to Webster’s dictionary a rite “is a prescribed form of conducting a ceremony or ritual.” Thus a “Rite of Passage” for our youth would be a predetermined ceremony acknowledging that a young person had passed into adulthood. By this definition we should not have a rite of passage for our youth, but we do need to recognize certain qualities or characteristics in our youth which can determine if they are ready or capable of entering adulthood.

 

I have reasons both for and against initiating a rite of passage for American youth. I am opposed to it mainly because each and every one of us is different and cannot have our abilities given to us by a simple ceremony or ritual. Each of us will be able to pass into adulthood not because of some ceremony, but because we have the character to show that we are ready to handle the responsibility that comes with being an adult. I mean even a five year old could be put through a ceremony without grasping anything that is expected of them.

 

Actually in a sense we already have rites of passage for our youth. From my point of view the way a person is raised constitutes a rite of passage. You see if a child is raised learning to act mature and handle responsibility, then he or she will be able to take charge of the responsibility that is thrust upon them when they become considered an adult. Therefore they have been put through a rite of passage.

 

I have never seen a jigsaw puzzle that could put itself together. But many of today’s parents have the mentality that they should just let their kids be kids, and then these parents think that somehow their children’s lives will just fall into place at a certain age. When they realize that their child has no discipline or respect for authority, then it is too late. I would like to use the American Indian as an example. When an Indian child reached the age of seven or eight they began to mimic their parents examples and take on some of the parents work in order to prepare them for their future roles.  When they reached their early teens they were ready to become men or women.  Also in their early teens they are put through certain rituals to prove their courage or ability to be a responsible man or woman.

 

The Japanese also prepare their children for adulthood. Japanese children are taught to be extremely courteous and are taught to show the proper respect for their superiors and elders. The Japanese do love their children and give them much freedom, but they learn very early how to conduct themselves respectfully. They are also taught not to freely express their feelings in front of strangers, so that they will not give them a childish impression.

 

Most children in America are raised without the slightest bit of respect  for their elders.  It is painfully obvious that many of America’s youth do not even care for their elders.  I saw on the news the other day that the  average allowance for teenagers in the United States is sixty dollars a week! I was lucky if I ever got an allowance at all. If I did it was because I would  do chores for my mom or dad.  Most of these kids just have the money  handed to them. And most likely these teenagers will never learn how to  handle responsibility and will be at a loss when they are expected to handle  situations like an adult. Not a ceremony in this world can magically teach a person how to conduct themselves. 

 

I can only think of one good reason to institute a rite of passage  ceremony.  While it will not really help a person in life, some people feel a  sense of completion if they hold a ceremony to confirm what they already  know.  But I still feel that it is a trivial matter and the true test and proof of a  person is how a person is raised and conducts his or herself in society.

 

Initiating a rite of passage would be a complete waste of time and  energy. Instead of wasting it we should use this time making an effort to make the way a child is raised into that child’s rite of passage. This would be much more effective than a simple predetermined ceremony.

 

 

HSF  ESSAY QUESTIONS

1.         Being all you can be without criticism.

2.         All four of these issues remain a problem in the society of today.

3.         Yes ,  Act of developing intellectual and moral faculties.

4.         None of the above.

5.         I feel that boundaries and structure, within reason, are an essential part of

 

our communities.

6.         1. I absolutely know that some kids smoke at the lunch break.

2.         Some kids dip in class without being caught.

3.         I have had someone ask me to take a drink.

7.         The only solution for this is for everyone to get rid of their previously

 

stereotypical ideals.

8.         No,  No because this would give us a false ideal of what the real world is

 

like.

9.         I do not agree,  I feel that public schools can teach you much of what the

 

world is like.

10.       I feel that this article is correct in the extreme and wish it could be done

 

this way.