Arbitrary ages of majority are weird. As odd as it seems, I think this is one way we’ve gone backwards a bit.
You have to be 18 to “be an adult.” Except it’s 19 to smoke, 21 to drink, 17 to drive, 25 to rent a car… and all of that is different in different states. Well? Are you an adult or aren’t you?
Even ignoring the fact that there’s nothing different about a person at 17 years, 11 months, and 29 days versus that same person at 18 years on the dot, we also have to realize that a thousand different 18-year-olds are different in a thousand different ways.
We need an official Rite of Passage again. Instead of an arbitrary and automatic “adulthood” label, we need a specific trial, accomplishment, or ritual. Something done with the support of your family and the oversight of your community that grants you the rights and responsibilities of adulthood only when successfully accomplished.
I’m not saying it has to be barbaric – the rite of passage doesn’t have to be wandering around in the woods until you kill a bear. Imagine something like the citizenship test, but for adulthood: You have to take a test covering subjects like personal finance, local laws, employment readiness, interpersonal conflict resolution skills, etc. What the kids today like to call “adulting” skills. And if you pass, you become a legal adult. If you don’t, you remain legally a “minor,” regardless of age. You can take the test when you want, but a failure requires a year-long wait before taking it again.
Perfect system? Hardly. But our current system isn’t perfect, either. 16-year-olds with abusive parents are trapped even if they’re capable of surviving on their own. 19-year-olds with mental handicaps are forced to “age out” of support systems. Kids can take a bullet for their county but can’t legally buy a beer.
I just think it’s worth thinking about.
The Opportunity Machine 