Doubts of the Youth

            Why does almost everyone seem to look down upon teenagers? I mean, there are a few good adults who seem to look at teenagers in a good light, but for the most part, teenagers seem to get the short end of the stick. Every year, our rights that we have been given seem to be revoked and new rules put up to restrict us even more. It’s not just parents either with the restrictions: it’s the government as well. We are always told to act mature or grow up, yet the same people who tell us that, restrict us from being able to grow up.

            The recent conflict which sparked my interest in writing this O.P. is the recent movement across parts of the country that is speaking out to have the driving age raised. The argument ranges from everything from saving millions of barrels of oil a week, a thought that it would improve school participation and cut down on teen delinquency. Another big reason has been that the number one cause of death for teenagers is car related. Well, these are decent arguments, but is it really necessary to change the driving age? Not at all!

            Teenagers have waited the majority of junior high and parts of high school anticipating the time when we finally are able to drive. It’s a sort of freedom, a little bit of independence from our parents, that helps us get to school, to work so we can start saving for college, and to our friend’s houses on the weekends so we can enjoy the little time we have when we aren’t at school. The teen car crash rate? That’s just another excuse these lobbyists use. The teenager bracket from 16-19 is third overall for crash rate compared to number of drivers in the category, behind 21-25, and 26-30 in recent tests. Driving is an essential rite of passage when we turn 16 and it seems like just another way for adults to restrict us by raising it.

            Remember when curfew used to be twelve on the weekends and eleven on weekdays? Good times. Now since the curfew has changed to eleven on weekends and ten on weekdays, we find it harder to follow these rules because we already were accustomed with the old ones. I mean, it’s not like a majority of teenagers are going to follow the new curfew laws anyways, it’s just another rule that we big, bad teenagers are probably going to break. Why? It is another restriction of a freedom a majority of us had gotten used to. Some of us were even old enough to not have a curfew, but then changed when they extended it to age 17. This is just one of many different laws targeting the freedoms of teenagers.

            Obviously, from the last few minutes you can tell my opinion about the way we teenagers are continuously getting screwed over. What could be next? We have to stay home on the weekends because a few of us are drinking or doing drugs? What is your opinion on the matter? Do you think we’re being treated unfairly? What are some rules that you disagree with?