[Mick]

We've been extending adolescence for a very long time.  100 years ago, 14 year olds would graduate from 8th grade and were often expected to go out and work.  High school graduation rate in 1920 was just 16.8%.  There was no "out" you had to grow up right away.  Today, adolescence extends well into the 20s.

Given what I have seen for many people adolescence extends far beyond the 20s, but that is another story. I agree we have extended adolescence, but we  continue to allow adolescents to assume adult privileges as if they were going to enter the workforce etc. In fact, we lowered the voting age to 18. One argument for that was that if you were old enough to be drafted, you were old enough to vote. Then we quit drafting people.

My point is that adolescents are not incapable of following rules and behaving responsibly. They are probably less able to make tradeoffs based on experience, and may (ok, will) make mistakes due to misreading a situation. However, if it is made clear to them in no uncertain terms that you don't do X, they are capable of not doing X. History shows that is true. Problems emerge when society basically delivers the message that you have a right to do whatever you want without real consequences. You then get adolescents partying during an epidemic. They need to know that they can test the boundaries around the edges. Adolescents always do that. However, they also need to know there are things you just don't do, period. IMHO our society has failed to establish the latter. That has had seriously bad consequences for quite some years.

Great post, I agree completely.  I think it's why Americans have done so poorly, at least in part, during the pandemic.

Curious to know what you think of this.  A 14 year-old, demanding emancipation, citing abuse at the hands of two parents who are at odds politically:

https://www.the-sun.com/news/1358184/cla...nts-abuse/

[Mick]

We've been extending adolescence for a very long time.  100 years ago, 14 year olds would graduate from 8th grade and were often expected to go out and work.  High school graduation rate in 1920 was just 16.8%.  There was no "out" you had to grow up right away.  Today, adolescence extends well into the 20s.

Given what I have seen for many people adolescence extends far beyond the 20s, but that is another story. I agree we have extended adolescence, but we  continue to allow adolescents to assume adult privileges as if they were going to enter the workforce etc. In fact, we lowered the voting age to 18. One argument for that was that if you were old enough to be drafted, you were old enough to vote. Then we quit drafting people.

My point is that adolescents are not incapable of following rules and behaving responsibly. They are probably less able to make tradeoffs based on experience, and may (ok, will) make mistakes due to misreading a situation. However, if it is made clear to them in no uncertain terms that you don't do X, they are capable of not doing X. History shows that is true. Problems emerge when society basically delivers the message that you have a right to do whatever you want without real consequences. You then get adolescents partying during an epidemic. They need to know that they can test the boundaries around the edges. Adolescents always do that. However, they also need to know there are things you just don't do, period. IMHO our society has failed to establish the latter. That has had seriously bad consequences for quite some years.

Great post, I agree completely.  I think it's why Americans have done so poorly, at least in part, during the pandemic.

Curious to know what you think of this.  A 14 year-old, demanding emancipation, citing abuse at the hands of two parents who are at odds politically:

https://www.the-sun.com/news/1358184/cla...nts-abuse/