Week 1.3 Let Teenagers Try Adulthood Response

Leon Botstein’s Let Teenagers Try Adulthood, discusses school systems and how they should change due to the change in today’s society. The idea was acknowledged after the Littleton Shooting; when the outdated school system slapped officials in the face. There needed to be change.  In schools today, there are more coaches than regular teachers because sports get major attention.  With this increased attention in sports, student associated in sports get more advantages as well as more attention than the other students, especially in football. Studies have shown more “outsiders” become successful in life over the popular high school insiders. With such studies, some believe that less attention should be put on sports and students should be brought into the “real world” by the age of sixteen. This will eliminate middle schools and force children to mature at a faster pace.

Sports play too much of a role in the schools. Athletes are looked at with higher rank and are automatically at the top of the social network in today’s schools. These athletes are often given advantages over other students, such as the academic expectations are lowered. This causes students to pay less attention to what schools initial goal is; education. This is a problem and a reason why students not associated in sports care more about grades and often succeed at a higher standard over athletes. At the time, however, most do not look at the future as a bigger picture. The school’s objectives should have a greater impact on a student’s future rather than Friday night’s game.

Having students leave school by the age of sixteen can be positive and negative. Forcing children to mature at a younger age can increase the success rate of American students. However, leaving the house of one’s parents earlier than the current status quo can create problems when it comes to individuality. Children rely on their parents to help them prepare for the real world, so leaving early gives one less time to learn the needs for their future. Even though they may become mature, having two years less than before to prepare can be a disadvantage to one’s future,

Middle school is used as a period to get students ready for the rigorous courses in high school. Like in the article, some believe that middle school is a pointless, if not a waste of time. Eliminating the middle schools could result in a educational gap. The gap could lead to students failing to meet the academic standards by not being fully prepared for the tougher, college level courses.  These grades gave students the ability for the higher courses. Each level of school is used as stepping stones in the educational process.  Without the middle boundary, how will it improve student success rates?

Today’s society is changing and has changed from the past ten years. It only makes sense that school systems should change as well, to accommodate the modern ways. However, such drastic changes should be thought out well before taken into effect. Alternate techniques in the school system have been made in the past decade but there are problems that still need to be acknowledged.