Week 1.3: Let Teenagers Try Adulthood

Let Teenagers Try Adulthood

                In “Let Teenagers Try adulthood” Leon Botstein’s argument is that the education system is corrupt, especially in high schools because it misguides, rather than guides teenagers to adulthood. Botstein explains that due to the cliques in high school teenagers assume that this is how the real world operates.  This argument is correct because cliques do give teenagers a false impression on the real world and high school does not prepare teenagers for adulthood, but rather focuses on the importance of popularity and cliques.

Today’s high school gives more attention to sports than grades or academics. Botstein focuses on the corruption of high school by giving the example of the football clique receiving more attention than academic achievements. High school athletes are given a higher social status than an outsider which is why teenagers rather fit in with a group than be by themselves. This emphasis on sports is shown throughout the community, because athletes receive more praise than the students who work hard academically. However, these hard-working students or outsiders are more likely to succeed in the future. Teenagers do not look at the future instead they focus on the present  which  is why being  captain of the varsity football team is more important than being an academic successful student who becomes successful later on in life. This gives teenagers the false oppression that it is better to be popular and fit in, than be an individual who stands out from the crowd. Giving teenagers this false impression makes them give in to peer pressure and lose sight of their goals for the future. This false impression will continue on when a teenager reaches adulthood, so instead of having knowledge of how the real world works they will go around clueless. They will be trying to fit in and not really understanding how the real world operates.

To fix the corruption of high school, Botstein suggest that the eleventh and twelfth grade should be removed and replaced with students either joining the workforce or going to junior college. He also suggests that middle school should be abolished because it is a waste of time and does not prepare students for high school .Allowing teenagers graduate at 16 instead of 18 can be very beneficial because in eleventh and twelfth grade, students take classes that do not pertain to their career goal. Giving teenagers an earlier opportunity to start on their career path will give them a better idea of the real world and adulthood. Leaving high school earlier will introduce teenagers to the real world at an earlier age, so they will learn that the high school is not the way adulthood operates.

Today’s world is rapidly changing, there needs to be change in the educational system, because the current one is not working successfully. Teenagers are going into adulthood with a flawed view of the world instead of having the knowledge about how the real world is operated and run. However, entering the world at 16 might fix it.