teacher

I disagree with Leon Botstein's essay "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood". Botstein argues that teenagers have matured much more quickly over the past few years. Therefore, he believes high school be abolished and a child's education should begin earlier in order for students to graduate around the age of sixteen rather than eighteen. High school is intended for students of a certain maturity level. But now, students are exceeding that level rapidly. Botstein sees high school as a place full of superficial, adolescent teenagers that care more about appearances, popularity, cliques and sports than education. Because they have reached a high maturity level at such a young age already, there are many students that are wasting their junior and senior years away in high school rather than starting college. I disagree with Botstein however. High school is a transition period for students to learn how to take on more responsibilities. It is the time for teenagers to become more social and independent. While I do agree with Botstein on his point of maturity levels growing faster, I don't agree that students should be graduating earlier than they currently are. Not all students are capable of the same things. Most high school students are not prepared to enter into adulthood just yet. They still need someone to guide them along a path until they've graduated. Age restrictions are applied to the youth community for a reason. The majority of teenagers are not ready to handle the responsibilities that come their way. The legal age for drinking is 21 because of safety concerns as well as the responsibility that comes with the consumption of alcohol. Fortunately for Texas, teenagers are able to obtain their drivers license at the age of sixteen, but other states, like California, have citizens wait until they are eighteen to obtain their license with the same privileges as a sixteen year old from Texas. Responsibilities are tough to handle, even for an adult. So why have the same expectations for a sixteen year old that you would have for an eighteen year old student? In Botstein's idea of students graduating at sixteen years old, he plans for students to immediately start college afterwards, or they could attend junior college instead. This is for students to begin their interactions with the real world, as in working with adults and tackling the same responsibilities adults have to take on everyday. While it is an excellent idea for students to begin interacting with the real world, the majority of students are not ready to do that. Students begin looking into college during their junior year. During this time, they begin to build up their resumes for colleges to look at. Besides grades, tests scores and GPAs, colleges also look into volunteer hours, organizations and whether or not students work outside of school. Most high school students during their junior and senior year are taking multiple AP classes, working part time jobs, or even volunteering during their spare time. Students are not necessarily taking on "adult" responsibilities, but they are taking baby steps into the real world. By the time they have graduated at eighteen years old, they will be much more prepared for college and what the world will throw at them. The current high school system works well for teenagers. Even though students are maturing a lot faster, these high school students still are not prepared for adulthood.