I have an extended definition paper due tomorrow and my teacher's a huge stickler on wordiness and things, please proofread my essay and i'll return the favor!
The teenaged years are considered to be the golden years. It is the time for recklessness, change, and rebellion. But it is more than that. Those five years are the time you figure out who you are, who you want to be, and who you are not. People say that the teenaged years are the best years, the easiest years, the happiest years but that is not true. What it means to be a teenager has changed over time. Society sees teenagers as lazy and arrogant, when in reality the youth are so much more than that. Teenagers are loud, hardworking, and outspoken. They stand up for what is right, despite the consequences. Sure there is some irrationality and anger mixed in, but that is what makes the teenaged spirit. Despite all the stress and negativity exposed to teenagers, they can make the most of it. Perhaps society should stop seeing teenagers as incapable and start taking a few tips from them.
Every year 276,000 young adults attempt suicide, something unheard of not even 30 years ago. But what changed? Teenagers today are seen as defiant, self-centered, and lazy. Ironically. The ones who are saying this are the people who grew up in a completely different world. A world without nearly as much widespread knowledge, independence, or stress as there is today. The world teens are growing up in today is completely different than it was in the 1980's. Over the past 45 years, college admission costs have skyrocketed by 135%. There is over a trillion dollars of student debt in the United States, the number of students admitted into college has gone down 12% since 2002. Teenagers are lazy? More like exhausted. Exhausted from waking up at 5 am when their natural body clocks are set to wake up 5 hours later, spending a grueling 8 hours at school, only to get home to do at least 4 hours of homework, go to a 2 hour sports practice, and 3 hours of work after. Add in time for meals, socializing, and a minute to catch their breath. A scholar athlete is lucky to be in bed by 11 or 12. A scholar athlete trying to make money for college can aim for 4 to 5 hours of sleep, five days a week. The term "teen" is fairly new. Until then most people were children and then grown and then adults. Teenagers are not at fault for their irrationality either. Their overly emotionally based decisions are due to science. They cannot help who they are. Their rebellion is due to their different perception of risk. They need higher doses of risk to feel the same amount of rush adults do, due to the brains heavy reliance on the limbic system there are expectations to get a job, to start taking responsibilities for themselves, to study hard and look for a good job. But teens are not given all equal-footing as adults would get, and for everything, are treated as a child.
Despite their treatment as children, teenagers can still change the world. With the effort, they can feed the poor, find cures for illnesses, prevent global warming, stop wars, the possibilities are endless. Teenagers may not always make the right decision, but they know right from wrong. Perhaps their rashness is one of their best qualities. Adolescents are loud spoken in ways like no other. They have no fear of speaking up for what they think is right through protest and rallies. Teenagers are liberal. The youth is not as stuck in the old ways as adults are. They see the world around them with more tolerance than older individuals. Since younger people do not want to be judged or treated harshly for expressing their creative or political views, they tend to extend this same courtesy to others. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.
The ages between 13 and 18 are when the self-discovery and experimentation process begin. You begin making conscious decisions for yourself and decide your limits. You now get to choose what you wear, what you can spend your paycheck on, who your friends are, how you spend your time, and even things like what party to go to and what drugs to try. People say that teenagers in the 21st century have more freedom than they did 50 years ago. More freedom is not necessarily a good thing. Due to the freedom, there are many more difficult decisions teens have to make. The teenaged spirit can never be broken. Collectively, teenagers never give up, although one or two may, there is always a dozen more behind that person, willing to fight for that same cause until change has been made. Teenagers slowly discover that power along with discovering other things. They finally discover that the world is not as great as it seems, they realize that life is hard and there is no choice but to make it true or die trying. Despite the harsh reality, teenagers make it through. They are resilient, and their resilience will never die.
Everyone was a teenager once. It may be the best years of a person's life, they may be hell on Earth, but they are the years that shapes a person's future. As a teenager, your power is endless. You have the power to change the world, with the outspokenness and morality all youth seem to have. However, to make a difference, a lot of work has to be put in. You work tirelessly day and night, but for what? A college degree? Teenagers now to put up with more debt and stress than ever before. That, along with the experimentation process that occurs during these years and the discovery of all that is wrong in a world can break a person, but most teenagers make it through. The teenage spirit is unbreakable, and it will remain as such.
The teenaged years are considered to be the golden years. It is the time for recklessness, change, and rebellion. But it is more than that. Those five years are the time you figure out who you are, who you want to be, and who you are not.
I this very much.... sounds very logical :)
Society sees teenagers as lazy and arrogant, when in reality the youth are so much more than that.
"Society sees teenagers as lazy and arrogant"? - Why do you make such a generalization ? Actually, I don't believe this is true. There may be some people who hold this opinion, but society at large do not perceive teenagers as lazy. I may agree with you about the arrogant part. However, this sounds a bit like stereotype of thinking and I like if you rephrase this a bit to avoid that effect.
