Let Teenagers Try Adulthood

"Let Teenagers Try Adulthood" Leon Botstein explains in his essay "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood", about how high school is run by the jocks, and how the community only supports the high school when the "varsity team" succeeds. Botstien talks about how the "...rules of high school turn out not to be the rules of life." He also talks about the whole "puberty" issue and how it effects today's teens, in school and in life. He explains how elementary school should start earlier, and you should graduate at the age of 16 instead of the age 18, because your body had matured faster then a century ago. Botstein also mocks the education system, stating that certain classes are to be taught only by the people who know the most about the class. Many students choose to go to a junior college or even stay home, because of the lack of pressure to attend a university. Finally Botstein states that 16 year olds should be focused on developing their "adult life" and that this country needs to realize the fact that the American education system has failed because of the out-to-date techniques that are being used.
Botstein is trying to convince the reader to give up on the old system of elementary school, junior high, and then high school, but instead a "new way" of schooling. He wants that reader to believe that because teenagers develop much faster than they did a century ago there is no need to hold up the students in classes that just waist their time. Instead just do the things that are needed, to get the gist of things and be off on their ways. Off into the "real world." Botstein tries to apply a universal solution to the problem that high school is obsolete and that it only exists in a limited number of places, his solution which is in paragraph eight states that schools should give up junior high and jump right into high school. This way they will graduate sooner, so teenagers can get a jump start on "real life." One could argue that the American system may be out of date but it shouldn't be abolished, instead fixed to fix the problems that are occurring. High schools could even hire suitable faculty who are trained to deal with the problems at hand. Botstein also argues that "adults should face the fact that they don't like adolescents and that they have used high school to isolate the pubescent and hormonally active adolescent away form both the picture-book idealized innocents of childhood and the more accountable world of adulthood." One could argue that children keep their innocents until they hit the puberty stage and then choose to experiment with what all the other children are doing that have already reached that stage. And high school is supposed to prepare students for the "adult world" by teaching the students life skills, so that when they leave high school they are able to cope with their lives. High school doesn't shelter, but helps educate the children about the world in which they are about to enter.
He also argues that technology is too open today. He states that "Information and images, as well as the real and virtual freedom of movement we associate with adulthood, are now accessible to every 15- and 16-year-old." With this, one could argue that not every child has access to the internet or a television set. Some parents have enough sense to shield and/or shelter their innocent children from these adult images by following guidelines and rules set by the FCC (Food and Drug Administration). Botstein argues that "Young people should graduate at 16 rather than 18." How as children of that age are not ready or mature enough to experience that "real world" and what it has to offer, because they lack of personal life experiences. Also that with the law the way it is now, children of that age do not have the personal rights of an adult to make major life decisions, like voting. They are unable to make a decent wage for themselves because of the Child Labor Laws, which doesn't allow a child to work past 20 hours a week, disabling them to earn enough money to support themselves without government help. In conclusion, Botstein's essay is not as clear to the reader as it could be. Although his problem is clearly stated and he has a solution present, the solution is too broad. He hasn't figured in all the details with he should have, in his solution before he stated it in his essay. Therefore he should have elaborated on this solution to make his argument stronger.