Essay/Term paper: Why be adolescent

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Philosophy

Why be Adolescent? I believe that I have caught on to the biggest scam in the
history of the world. No I'm not talking about long distance phone companies,
or CD clubs, or even public school. I'm talking about adolescence.
Adolescence is the stage between 13, and the early adult, and late teen years.
Adolescence is only found in 1st world countries that are descending from
England in some way. The reason for that, I believe, is that a long time ago
before the existence of America, Canada, or Australia, European countries
were thought to be the most advanced, and proper. In almost all aspects of
life there, things were ranked in a hierarchy system. They ranked their
government system to have different levels of importance; their social status
was ranked, church system, police, and finally age. The age hierarchy was not
very complex. If you were older than somebody, than of course you were that
much closer than the top, unless they had a higher general social status than
you. With the branching of Europe, the European ways would follow.
Observe the affect adolescence has on North America. Children are treated
with extra care until about 13 or 14. Then the stage of adolescence starts.
You are given responsibility. Nothing big, but just things like chores, and more
time out. The intention of these is good, but it is all part of the plan to make
the child ready to be an adult when they're 18. In many cases the child is not
used to the responsibility until well after 18, because the change is so
dramatic. This could be one the reasons that we have so many young
criminals, ages 13-25. In many Asian, and African countries, which are not
completely influenced by European culture, adolescence simply does not exist.
They are not so worried about spanning the time of giving responsibility, but
actually give it a little too soon if anything at all. A lot of the people in these
countries don't have a lot of money, so they need the help from their offspring
as soon as they can get it. In the extreme, a 14-year-old boy could be
working to support his family with a jog for 1.25 an hour with a large
American sports clothing line. This can't be good no matter how you look at
it, but on the other hand, a boy who learns responsibility at the age of 13, by
working for a relative or neighbor, doing physical labor can be very beneficial.
The boy is not overwhelmed with the weight of his family's well being on his
shoulders, and learns how to mix work with fun. Using this method, teens are
ready to support themselves if needed by the age of 16 or 17. I believe
American, Canadian, and all other 1st word children could be ready by this
age if conditions were different in the ways of parenting. I am not suggesting a
dramatic change in tradition, or nationwide change in parenting, but it would
be nice if some of the responsibility and life lessons be bumped back a few
years so the changes are more gradual and by the time a person is 18 there
will not be a big jump into the world of independent self reliance. I don't see
any reason that our ways of living our correct in any form. Many of our
traditions, principles, and laws should be looked at from a non-biased point of
view, and evaluated to find the real importance if any. I also believe that
today's 13 year old kid, can handle the responsibility, and stress of a 16 year
old, and the 16 year old could handle being 20 in this wonderful nation of
ours. This may be why so many kids in this age group have overwhelming
stress. They are capable of being more of a person then our society lets them,
and are constantly being held back from their full potential. Adolescence is not
something to stay up at night about, but I think it would be all for the better if
we looked at things from a different view, including adolescence.