There’s been some interesting reading in both the local and
national newspapers regarding two issues pertaining to teens: The
extension of the six-month
”
drive by yourself
”
restriction to one year for drivers under the age of 18, and the
banning of
”
Freaking
”
at some high school dances. My bet is they can probably expect
more legislation and imposed rules in the future.
There’s been some interesting reading in both the local and national newspapers regarding two issues pertaining to teens: The extension of the six-month “drive by yourself” restriction to one year for drivers under the age of 18, and the banning of “Freaking” at some high school dances. My bet is they can probably expect more legislation and imposed rules in the future.
Currently, some teens under the age of 18 are complaining about the inconvenience caused by the restriction on them against having passengers under the age of 25, stubbornly minimizing the importance of the data that show the disproportionate number of accidents for drivers ages 16-18 that, at worst, claim their lives, or those of others.
I have to say, I can partly sympathize. My own life blew open with more free time once my daughter was able to drive with passengers younger than 25 in the car.
The ability to send her shopping with my son, a task she enjoys and I hate, has created a flexibility I haven’t had since she was born.
However, arguments, such as the one I read from one teen, saying such a rule banning her from riding with her friend would only heighten the risk of accidents as she and the friend would be forced to talk to each other on their cell phones if they got lost, do little to persuade legislators and other adults to change their minds.
With the advancements in brain research, teens have no hope of things becoming any more lenient. In the past five years, new brain-imaging research has shown that the brains of teenagers are different from those of adults. Teens’ brains are still growing and changing.
In fact, a key part of the brain that affects judgment may not be in place until men and women reach their early 20s.
At the risk of sounding oppressive to our cherished youth, as many adults know, and as the scientific and sociological studies tend to confirm, a lack of maturity and underdeveloped sense of responsibility are found in youth more often than in adults. These qualities often result in impetuous and ill-considered actions and decisions.
Locally, we’re experiencing this, as Gilroy painfully mourns yet again the loss of a teen girl, the result of a young driver making a deathly ill-considered action in trying to cross the train tracks.
Once insurance companies figure out how to mobilize behind this research and the statistics added to by this most recent tragedy, you can expect current grade and middle schoolers to endure the same year of restrictions that drivers under the age of 18 are experiencing, but until they themselves are 25.
Now, nearly 20 years after “dirty dancing” became popular, some schools have finally gotten a backbone and said “Um, not here, kiddos” and banned “Freaking” from the dance floor (Britton in Morgan Hill is not one of them, one exasperated mother has reported).
I was wondering when parents and teachers were going to notice that “freaking” is really just dry humping to music.
I’ve always disliked “freaking.” I don’t like to dance that way, and I don’t like watching other people, no matter the age, dance that way.
While I recognize that standards of decorum (how much does one touch one’s partner, how close should one be to one’s partner) have evolved over the centuries, this particular path of evolution of the couple’s dance should become extinct.
Generations of young people before this last one had loads of dances to choose from (however, I feel sorry for the ones who had the Roger Rabbit).
Drawing the line at simulated sex and banning “freaking” won’t hurt the dance scene for our younger people, and I applaud the schools that have taken such a step.
If there’s any benefit to young people about such a ban, I’d point to the observation that older folks seem to dance the steps of their youth. I always loved to watch my parents dance at our middle school sock hops.
And I recently watched some of my contemporaries, the men with their long gray hair in ponytails, do the “Bump” with their partners at a high school fundraiser.
My daughter’s friends looked on in thinly veiled horror. I pulled one of them over and whispered, “What will YOUR kids think when they see you “Freaking” at their high school fundraiser?”
She walked away, with wrinkled nose and shrugged shoulders, wailing “eeewwwwww.”
Indeed.
