Teen Talk

Seeing several of my friends vote for the first time, I found myself thinking about the age range in my senior class that spans from just seventeen to almost nineteen. But who is older now is not as apparent as it was back in kindergarten, when some of us had just turned five years old, while others were seven. As I grew older, I learned that many parents had their children start elementary school at a later age, because they wanted to give their children an edge academically, athletically, and socially.
But this edge diminished in time. Yes, these kids had their learner’s permits earlier, but any superiority that was evident in kindergarten soon disappeared.
The parents, however, came up with other ways to secure their children “the edge.†Many employed tutors, regardless of whether their children struggled in school. Several friends had private coaches in tennis, basketball, and baseball when the rest of us were still trying to figure out how to play tetherball.
Then in middle school, a number of classmates were taken by their parents to their pediatricians in order to be tested for Attention Deficit Disorder. The strategy was to secure such a label so they would be given extra time when taking exams or writing in-class essays. Of course, some kids legitimately have this problem and deserve the additional time. But as teens realized that the diagnosis of having ADD or ADHD potentially awarded them with additional time on the SATs, more students sought letters from their doctors.
But will they continue to need more time in college? What about in the work force? How will future employers react if they postpone presentations and miss deadlines because they did not learn to be accountable in their youth? Regrettably, these parents are so committed to helping their children in any way possible and getting them into a top-rated college that they do not see how they might be hindering them from developing into mature, responsible, and honorable adults.