The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

The news site of Verona High School

The Fairviewer

If You Can Serve the Country, You Can Be Served

To become a man in the Amazon’s Satere Mawe tribe, boys as young as twelve must wear gloves filled with stinging bullet ants. These ants rightfully deserve their name as a sting from one of them is thirty times more painful than the sting of a wasp; each
prick feels like a bullet. To become a man the boys don’t just go through this ceremony once, but 20 times for ten minutes.

In the United States however, the passage into adulthood is much less torturous. You become an adult when you have your Bar Mitzvah…no, when you get your license…actually, when you can vote…or is it when you have your first drink at 21? Although our
progression into adulthood is not as painful as rituals of other nations, it is not clearly defined.

Junior Haley Tole sees the issue of varying ages of responsibilities, “I think it’s hard to define a set age for adulthood. People mature at their own rate, so by setting certain ages for different activities nothing gets accomplished.”

At the age of 18 a citizen gains the right to vote. In the eyes of the United States government one can be tried as an adult at the age of 18. Upon turning 18 an individual can make the life-altering decision to risk their life and join the Army, but he or she still can’t drink.

“For drinking, driving, fighting in the military, compulsory schooling, watching an R-rated movie, consenting to sex, getting married, having an abortion or even being responsible for your own finances, the dawn of adulthood in America is all over the place,” states a 2009 New York Times article.

Senior Julieanne Mascera believes that 18 is the perfect age and every other law concerning the gaining of privileges should revolve around that number as well.

In theory, due to better nutrition and formal schooling, teens are now more culturally aware and informed of the world around them at younger ages than ever before. However, the ages of adulthood and consent are all over the map.

That same Times article points out that “Maybe we accept that 19-year-olds are not yet fully responsible adults for the purpose of driving a rental car, but hey, we still need someone to drive our tanks in Afghanistan.”

Just ask Junior John Tosh who has an unwavering opinion on this topic. “It’s dumb. If I volunteer my life for my country, I deserve to be able to vote and buy a six pack.”

However, if you talk to a neuroscientist, allotting different age requirements for various legal activities is rational. At age 16 the brain has developed logical senses equal to that of an adult. But, the self-regulating part of the brain continues to mature until young adulthood. Adulthood in this case being young to mid-20’s. This is why at 16 one can grant informed medical consent, but not have alcoholic beverages.

In a recent “Room for Debate” feature at nytimes.com, that same scientist brings attention to how confused our society is about when kids are grown up. “Surely the maturity required to operate a car or face combat exceeds that required to handle sexy movies or drinking. Age boundaries are drawn for mainly political reasons, not scientific ones.”

Senior Timmy Kiernan agrees with Julieanne’s statement that the age of adulthood should be 18, but understands the mental aspect to it. He accepts the difficulty with pinning maturity to specific age.

“Age isn’t always the most important thing because maturity levels are determined by what a person is exposed to. Say the drinking age is changed to 18, the maturity levels and choices the kids make who are now allowed to drink at 18 should be the same as the person who is 21. Half the battle with drinking too much is that is just because kids feel they need to go all out during that one night instead of managing their alcohol.”

So perhaps the drinking age won’t change soon. However, these are the opinions of those who the laws affect the most. With now
eligible senior voters Timmy and Julieanne along with soon to be seniors Jon and Haley, maybe the youth can decide for themselves what they can and can’t do at age 18.

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