Week 2 - Question #2
Sophie and Creighton are given a great deal of responsibility in Ben Franklin's print shop as teenagers. In colonial America many teenagers around the age of 14 or 15 are doing work and taking responsibility for things today often associated with adults. Do you think that in American society today we wait too long to treat teenagers as adults? What would be some pros and cons of allowing teenagers in America to have the full rights and responsibilities of adults at the age of 15?
posted by Eric Langhorst | 1:50 PM
9 Comments:
I think a pro is that we could live alone if we chose to. A con is that we would have to work for our money. A pro is that we could do stuff our parents tell us not to. A con is that if you do something bad you could be trialed as an adult in court but I guess that could be a pro it just depend on what you did.
I feel that treating us teenagers, at the age of 14 or 15 as adults would not be a very intelligent idea. My reason for thinking this is that(i am not speaking so directly of myself) but some, well most of us can be very inappropriate and immature at the age of 14 and 15. In those days, they were married at the age of 16 and we know what that would be like today, divorced at 17 and a half. Anyways. Now days we have low expectation with work. Back in the old colonial times, they knew that if they didnt act right they would be punished. Being as the law is today, i dont think you could 'punish' them as you could before.
So, in conclusion, I am glad things are the way they are now days.
i think some pros and cons of not being able to work when your a teenager. the pros are that we don't have as much responsiblity and we could focus on our school work and get better jons when we get older, 1 con is that when you are a teenager you want alot of money but your parents usually wont give it to you so you would want a job that could pay for all of the stuff you want thos are just some pros and cons of not being able to work when you are a teen
I say it's a bad idea to have teenagers nowadays act as adults (though some teenagers are forced to). There is the pressure of doing well in school, finding the right college, work, sports, baby sitting younger siblings, ect. A pro is that teenagers would be forced to act mature, even though this might not be the best way to teach them for adulthood. Teenagers are only children!
I think a pro is that we could have our own home or apartment. A great job as we chose. A con I agree with is that we have to work for our money. Another pro is we decide what we get do with our life but a con goes with that is if we do something that is bad makes us get in trouble.
I feel that treating teenagers, at the age of 14 to 15, as adults would be a bad idea because at this age i dont think that most of us are able to act as adults let alone have the responsiblities of one.
How many teenagers at 15 have had a beer (even just a sip)? How many have seen an R-rated movie? These are two very common practices that are MEANT to be for adults only, yet are common place in the worlds of most 15 year olds. The fact of the matter is, that teenagers have access to adult activities without any adult consequences. We have just as much opportunity to murder, if not more (Columbine anyone?), yet we're tried as minors. We can enlist in the army at 18 but we can't drink until we're 21. Everyday we are expected to put down peer pressure and think individually, but we can't vote for another 6 years. Modern American teenagers have just as much responsibillity as those from the 1600's. We just don't reap the rewards or face the consequences of our actions. Right now, american teeanagers are treated as adults, yet due to society's oppression we are lead to believe that we don't deserve the responsibility that comes with that title. In the end the issue is not whether or not we're treated as adults, but rather the double standard of american culture: that we're given adult responsibilities with out taking any responsibility. That may not make sense, but then again neither does a double standard for the youth of our country.
A pro is that we can live alone and work and pay taxes. Also there are cons such as immaturity, laws being broken, poor kids, and things such as lives ruind. I do believe that kids are given enough responsibility at the age of 18. So I do believe that kids are given the responsibility at a proper age.
Clayton B
I think that one book most families may have a copy of, or could gain access to would be the Bible - but this might be too obvious. Maybe you could use a particular edition of the New York Times or Washington Post or Wall Street Journal if you wanted to reach a select population. Maybe the TV guide would be accessible to the largest audience!
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