Savanna McClain
Ms. Chastain
English 100
11/12/10
Task Three Paper
When I finally turned 16 years old I got my license and thought I was so cool I could drive on my own now! I hated waking up every day bright and early to go to school. I hated school in general and I could not wait to graduate so I could sleep in and do whatever I wanted. At age 16, I was not nearly mature enough to graduate high school and become an adult with responsibilities. My parents paid for everything I had. I had no idea what I would have to do when I became an adult and lived on my own. In the story “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” by Leon Botstein, he explains how kids are maturing at earlier ages in this generation and how it would be a good idea to get rid of secondary education and have kids graduating high school at age 16 instead of 18. He also focuses on the topic of how too much time is spent wasted in high school or middle school, when the kids could be learning valuable information , such as how to be an adult and how to live on your own.
In Botstein’s essay he tells us the facts about how kids are hitting puberty at younger ages then they used to. He tells us that therefore, kids are maturing faster as well. I disagree with Botstein’s ideas here. I don’t believe children are maturing faster because look at all the violence and crimes you see in the world today, a lot of it is dumb kids who don’t even have a clue as to what something could do to their future when they are doing it. For example, kids doing drugs at younger ages, and having sex at younger ages, they need to grow up and learn what is wrong and right before they become adults and raise a kid of their own, when they have no idea how to raise a kid. Girls are becoming pregnant at much younger ages than they used to and they don’t know how to care for a baby, so most times we see the grandmother of the baby taking care of that child and the mother going out and being a “kid”. “At 16, young Americans are prepared to be taken seriously and to develop the motivations and interests that will serve them well in adult life” (207). I agree that at age 16 kids are being prepared to become adults, meaning they are just learning what things are going to be like and what responsibilities they might have as an adult. They are still learning that and haven’t become fully aware yet what obstacles or tasks they might face in their future.
When you are 16 years old, you really aren’t focused on anything besides your friends, what you are going to do this coming weekend, or how your hair looks that day. Children need all four years of high school so they can learn more about the real world and becoming an adult and have two more years in high school to prepare for the years ahead of them. High school gives you many opportunities that some kids may not have because they are unable to go to high school for some reason. For instance, Prom was the most fun part of my high school career, besides volleyball, and Friday night football games. I am glad I got the opportunity to do such things in high school and a kid would be missing out on so many things if they graduated at 16 rather than 18. I think every kid should get to experience the things I got to experience in high school.
I started working at an oil changing place when I was 16 years old and I could finally drive. Most kids don’t want to work at 16, they want their parents to pay for everything for them, because they are still kids. At 16 you don’t want to grow up yet, you don’t want to have to pay your own cell phone bill or car insurance. Too often we see people pressuring kids into growing up faster and becoming adults sooner. I think if we didn’t pressure so many kids into growing up there would be a lot less low self-esteem, less crime and violence. Everyone else got to be a kid for 18 years, so why can’t kids be kids now days? We need to let them live their lives before everything starts becoming harder and more stressful for them, because the real world isn’t easy.
To be an adult means to have responsibilities, professionalism, good work ethics, be able to take care of yourself, and be able to handle things the right way in times of trouble. You are going to have responsibilities such as, taking care of your kid if you have one, feeding yourself, paying your cell phone bill, light bill, gas bill, car insurance, and so much more. When you become an adult you need to have good work ethics because the economy is very rough, and it is very hard for people to find a decent job. Besides, if you don’t have a good work ethic then it would be nearly impossible for you to get a job because everyone is fighting for a good job. When you are an adult, you handle things a lot differently than you do when you are a 16 years old. For example, if someone was to hit your car and you are 16 and you just got this new car, you would most likely respond the wrong way and cuss someone out and yell at them. Whereas if you were an adult and this situation happened then the right thing to do would be to act calmly and collectively and gather the persons’ insurance information and then get on with your day. A 16 year olds brain works differently than an adult’s brain works. There are some very smart 16 year old kids out there but I still think they need the extra two years of high school until they are 18 years old to graduate. In my junior and senior year of high school I learned a lot of stuff I didn’t know as a 16 year old. “Most thoughtful young people suffer the high school environment in silence and in their junior and senior years mark time waiting for college to begin” (206). This is because kids choose not to get involved with their school and choose not to do anything so they want to leave and go to college as soon as they can. This quote is the opposite for me, I didn’t want to leave yet and become an adult, and I didn’t want college to start because I knew it was going to be a lot harder than high school and a lot more work I would have to do.
“We should entirely abandon the concept of the middle school and junior high school” (206). My middle school was sixth grade through eighth grade. If schools were to get rid of middle school altogether kids would be more likely to not succeed in my opinion. I don’t think it is a good idea at all because if you are going straight from elementary school to being in a school with all older kids, high school, then you are going to be shy and be in silence a lot more. You would be less likely to get involved with sports and such things.
I have changed a lot personally since I was 16 years old, to now, when I am 18 years old. I have matured a lot since I was 16 and I have learned so many things that you have to be prepared for in the adult world. I believe that I am still probably not ready to live on my own and pay all of my bills, but that just goes to show that I was a lot less ready to become an adult at age 16. I think Botstein has a few good examples as to why kids should graduate at 16 but overall, they should stay in high school until age 18 and then they can become adults and decide how they are going to live the rest of their lives.
Savanna McClain
Ms. Chastain
English 100
11/12/10
Works Cited Page
Botstein, Leon. "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood." Introduction to College Writing. Boston: The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2010: 205-208. Print
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