Rumspringa Essay

In the amish culture, primarily from eastern United states, it is customary for children growing older to be given the choice to partake in a coming of age period known as Rumspringa. This period is given to enable the teens to make a choice to stay amish or not. For those who chose to partake it usually involves the younger amish females being picked up by slightly older males and driven to a big party. They usually go from party to party the entire weekend, drinking lots of alcohol and some engage in sexual activities and drugs. However the way this tradition is presented to the teenagers today practically ensures their decisions to partake in these actions not accepted in their society. Instead of concealing these tempting activities of
During Rumspringa, the amish kids are presented with more freedom than they have ever had in their lifetime and because this freedom is simply switched on, the amish who choose to partake abuse these freedoms. In the passage from Tom Shachtman’s Rumspringa, he tells about young amish girls being picked up and taken to these crazy parties where drugs and alcohol are easily available and accepted. However, he also tells of growing up amish and how the children aren’t permitted to do a lot of “running around”. This is partially the issue with rumspringa today. The children aren’t allowed to make many choices growing up or do many things on their own so when they are given their first taste of freedom they use it as a chance to do everything they've never been able to do. Incidentally, the other side of this argument again comes back to the parents. Dennis L, an amish grandfather in shipshewana says “What we give them is a little space so they can be with people their own age and find a partner”. The amish society thinks of rumspringa as a “safe activity” for their children to partake in in order to find a suitable partner for their