It was the end of the school year when I turned that magical
number. I only had a week to go before
crossing the stage, shaking Principal Hickman’s hand, and ending the first
chapter of my life. Some of my friends
had already crossed over from childhood to adulthood earlier that year, but I couldn’t
really tell a difference. Most were
still as lost as I was about the future and holding onto a carefree youth with
all their might. They didn’t comprehend
that when the clock ticked from 11:59pm to 12:00am their life drastically
changed. They woke up, ate the breakfast
their mother fixed and went to school.
High School. They had girlfriends
or boyfriends. They still held hands,
still snuck kisses when the teachers weren’t looking, and made out at the
movies. Nothing changed, although
everything had changed.
Do you remember being 18? Do you remember being in high
school? How about your first love? You weren’t thinking as an adult while you
were in high school. You still thought
as a child. Furthermore, you were
treated as a child. So are the kids
today. Being eighteen in high school
means you can face all of the punishments of an adult, but don’t get all of the
freedoms.
18 year old adults in high school still need their parent’s
permission to go on a field trip. Why? They’re adults. They should be able to say, “Yes, I give
myself permission to go.” They should
also be able to keep their cigarettes on them just as the teachers do, because
they are just as much of an adult. It shouldn’t
matter that they’re students. They’re
now eighteen, the magical number of adulthood.
They should be able to drink, too.
Why we make adults wait three more years to buy a beer when they can go
off to war makes no sense. If we’re
going to try them as adults, then they should be full-fledged adults. If we’re going to treat them as regular
teenage high school students, then we need to go easier on them in other
areas.
Personally, I think we need to move the age of adulthood to
twenty-one. Teenagers are still teenagers. They think like teenagers. They go to school, have sleep overs, and cut
classes. They don’t think like adults
because nothing in their world has changed except the tick of a clock and the
flip of a calendar page. We need to move
the age. Allow them to finish high
school before being labeled an adult and risking their future on childish
behavior. Right now, there are too many
mixed signals being sent to our “adult” students, and I think too many adults
today have forgotten their own behavior back in the day of bells and pep
rallies.
There needs to be a better transition into adulthood and
that just won’t happen while they are in school, participating in sports and
classes with those younger than them. Adults
need to be separated from minors in those situations and treated as adults not
children. If a seventeen-year old is in
a relationship with someone younger, it’s unreasonable to expect it to change
the minute they turn eighteen. The legal
age should be moved to keep the lines from being confusing. People are either fully an adult or they’re
not. I don’t care what their age is, school
kids are not adults. They’re still
behaving and treated like kids, and this needs to be changed. As time has progressed, so has the legal
age. From thirteen, to sixteen, to
eighteen, as the world has transformed and become more complicated. It’s time we changed it again and made it
mean something more than chaos when one becomes an adult. Adults should not be students in high
school.
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I totally agree with the numerous insightful points you have made. It's true, at 18 they are still kids, not adults. I think the age of adulthood and the drinking age should be the same for so many reasons, I could write my own blog about it. I get where you are going with this and I agree, 18- year -old KIDS in high school make 18-year-old KID choices and just because the government has decided they are "adults" doesn't mean they comprehend what that entails. At 18, they have no idea how significantly their lives have changed until they make that one misstep that would have been been swept under the rug the year before. It's also not uncommon for there to be 18-year-old senior students so how can people expect them not to commingle with the minors? It seems like the system sets them up for failure and the kids don't even see it coming. Sorry to be so longwinded in my comment, but I can't support your position enough. Good stuff here!!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. We set them up for failure. I had one guy say to me that she should have been able to control herself. Yet, I doubt he did when he was her age. How many teens can? If they could teen pregnancy wouldn't be an issue. I hate the hypocrisy of the whole thing. Either they are adults or they aren't. If they can be held fully accountable they should have all of the freedoms as well.
DeleteThanks, my friend, for visiting and commenting!