Paoli High School

Paoli, Oklahoma
Teacher: Melinda Alfred

 

The Rite of Passage For American Youth

by Stephanie Ann Eastwood

12th grade

 

 

 

There is no rite of passage in the American Society today. Teenagers are really unsure of when they are actually considered adults. More adolescents these days act like adults and still get treated like incompetent teenagers. Although still a few adolescents do not deserve the passage from teenager to adult. Society still needs to consider the responsibilities put on our teenagers today, then we might have some rite of passage. Many teenagers have an extreme amount of responsibilities they are required to do, from cleaning house to babysitting other siblings. Other adults see these chores as not a big responsibility, but put on top of homework or school work and the common stress of being a teenager is a lot of work.  Also many sixteen-year-olds are required to have a job either to help out with the bills or just to help buy their clothes or food. I know, as a teenager myself, that working and going to school is hectic. I rarely have time to finish homework or study, and have no time for my personal life.  It's hard for me to finish my homework and make it to work on time.  Also being under eighteen the government says that I am still considered a child. They say I cannot smoke, drink, get a tattoo or vote, but they sure like to take my money and call it taxes. If I am not an adult why should I have the government taking my money.

           

Then again you would always have the people that would take advantage of some kind of rite of passage.  What good is having something to say you are an adult if you don't act like one?  Self rite of passage of passage of passage is just as good as any other, as long as I know I deserve to be an adult nothing else matters. Even though I can not vote and do other things adults do ,my family and friends still consider me as an adult.  Many adolescents are made to grow up to fast myself included. If our adolescents work, help pay bills, and other things, can't we give them the same amount of rights as adults, or do they not deserve the rights just because of their age and not their actions?

           

Do your children know when they become adults?  Probably not, many children are still told what to do even after they surpass the age eighteen. Age gives them the right to use tobacco or vote but many of them still live at home and have early curfews.  If each and every teenager was evaluated and watched carefully to determine whether he or she was mentally capable of becoming an adult, then we would have some kind of rite of passage. Even if our adolescents were made to take a test about the expectations and just the typical thing adults go through, we could separate the actual adults from the children.  Many adults have responsibilities teenagers don't experience.  If and when our adolescents experience the stress of paying bills having a job, taking care of children and some of the other many responsibilities adults in our society face, they should become an adult. Why should we force the teenagers that have many adult responsibilities to not have the right of an adult? 

           

I have heard many teenagers say that after they graduate they become adults, just as if they were Jewish and went through the bar mitzvahs. A large part thinks that they know that they are adults this gives them the right to drink and drive and endanger the lives of innocent people. Young criminals are often charged as juveniles, even if the crime is murder. If our adolescents want to become adults, shouldn't we charge them as adults if they commit crimes. Teenagers charged as juveniles are often released by age eighteen.

           

Just as the law requires us to pass a test to obtain our driver's license, we should offer a test to take to become an adult.  The Department of Motor Vehicles doesn't want anyone on the road that can't drive, so they make people take tests. Our government doesn't want children smoking, drinking, or voting. We should at least give our youth a chance to pass a test to become an adult.

           

Our children are extremely unsure about when they are considered adults. Even after adolescents turn eighteen there is still restrictions on what they can do. Our country needs to establish some right of passage, whether it is a test or a ceremony; teenagers need it.

 

Required Questions

 

1.Some young people don't live life to the fullest and by definition they are becoming less than they can be. When the army says be all you can be.

 

2.Almost all  are still big issues in my house and my community.

 

3.I believe culture could be anything that you do that is past down from generation to generation.

 

4.None of the above.

 

5.Many adults don't see the stress put on our children today. Many parents have no idea that is going on in their lives. The parents need to set more boundaries for their children and have more supervision.

 

6.Kids have bragged about being stoned. Drugs have been sold. Drugs have been found.

 

7.All the black teenagers can do is set a good example for the others and try to help the bad teenagers that give others a bad reputation.

 

8.I think I could actually work if I were home schooled and didn't have as many distractions. Girls sometimes get distracted when the hormones kick into over drive.

 

9.It is not like a prison because we get to leave and it is fun sometimes and some classes do discuss what is going on in the real world.

 

10.We all look up to someone every once in a while. Not every one is racist. Most whites get the same racial treatment from blacks. We all need to put on color differences behind us and treat each other equally.