“Let Teenagers Try Adulthood”

We all remember the day of the Littleton high school shooting also referred as

the Columbine High School Massacre. When the flashing new lines of (CNN News,

1999) stated that 25 people were killed at the High School by two heavily armed

male students that also took their own lives; it was shocking and very disturbing

news to learn that something so horrible caused this students to kill their own peers.

What was the reason that drove these students to kill? Was the students bullying

these boys, did they belong in the reject circle, the outcast’s of the high school,

were they the weirdo’s because they loved to learn; while everyone else

was focused on their looks and the next football game. Maybe, and this is the very

point that Leon Botstein states in his article “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood” for the

New York Times which was written after the Littleton shootings.

Botstein article “Let teenagers Try Adulthood” purpose that the American

high school is obsolete and should be abolished. He states that puberty and

education don’t mix, because their bodies are going through changes that can be

embarrassing. The high schools are made up of cliques and the artificial intensity of

a world defined by insiders and outsiders. (Botstein pg.20) The insiders hold control

over the outsiders because of good looks, popularity, and sports power; the teacher

and staff do nothing to stop them, the so called elite. When in fact the high school

outsiders becomes the more successful and admired adults in society. Botstein,

states that team sports of high school dominate more than student culture.

He purpose that secondary education be rethought; elementary s...

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...roblems at school and to top it all off their raging,

uncontrollable hormones; it’s a ticking time bomb just waiting to happen inside of

every teenager.

In conclusion, Botstein arguments about abolishing high school; should

really be considered and taken into action. Considering majority of high schools is a

social playground not an educational institute. It is a serious waste of tax funds and

waste extremely precious time which can never be regained. Unless parents,

teachers and the country start seeing that these problems with shootings and gangs

in high school are all due to the fact of the most basic concept every teen know

about “everyone for their selves, if you can’t play with the big dogs than get off the

porch.” With that stated we seriously need to change our the school system for

everyone benefit.