wbpesch@ihuxp.UUCP (Walt Pesch) (04/19/84)
I think an answer can lay in both Education (which may be already
sufficiently provided in some cases but needs to be provided
universally) and also in possibly putting a little more responsibility
into the hands of children, teenagers, and young adults.
I have always found the United States method of instant maturity at a
given age to be a little simplistic (but that's the way politicians
like it.) 16 - drive. 17 - R & X movies. 18 - you can go die for
your country and get married. 21 - drink. 25 - cheap car insurance.
Those are the stages of adulthood as known by the law.
But in the areas of sex, especially under the religous taboos of
mainstream America, there are no laws. There is no real public
recognition that sex exists in the parking lot of the apartment
complex that I live in on Saturday nights. We oohh and ahh but
don't accept that it is also our kids that are out there in the back
row of the parking lot... it is those "bad kids".
The solution as for this acceptance gap is twofold. We need to accept
in our society what is happening. Perhaps that will also take some of
the aspects of sex as rebellion against parents away from some
teenagers acting in such a manner. We also need to get the
responsibility into the teenagers at an earlier age. They are out
there at fourteen committing one of the most responsible acts of their
life, and yet they do not even know the responsibility of steering a
car yet. There is a definate imbalance present.
Still waiting for the bolt from the skies,
Walt Pesch
AT&T Technologies
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