Teenagers: Actually A Worthwhile Part Of Society?
Posted by: Ami Angelowicz
Filed in:
news
8:50AM, Thursday September 10th 2009
As a former high school teacher, I know intimately how unpredictable the behavior of a human teenager can be. I’d often bang my head against my classroom door half laughing, half crying, at the end of a long day. No age group could make me so amused, excited, and utterly frustrated all at the same time. One minute my students and I would joke and converse like adults and I would marvel at their creativity, depth, and humor. Five minutes later I’d have to confiscate 20 bags of Fire Hot Cheetos and scold them for smearing dirty fingers all over my classroom walls like three-year-olds. In short, those dang teenagers are a mystery. But did you know that in addition to being a behavioral anomaly, teenagers are also a scientific one?
In a New Scientist article called “The Ten Mysteries of You,” one of the featured mysteries is the mere existence of the teenager. What would you say if I told you that we are the only species that even has teenagers? I’d say, “Phew!” followed by “Really?” Even our distant relatives, the apes, get to skip all the mood swings and awkward moments. Researchers believe that adolescence emerged somewhere between 800,000 and 300,000 years ago—really close to the time when our brains expanded to be the size they are today. Whoa ... that means that adolescence might have actually helped us evolve? We know from brain imaging that from the ages of 12 to 20 the brain reorganizes itself, making itself capable of more complex thinking and behavior. The scientific purpose of adolescence seems to be developing a mind capable of thinking and dealing with things that only humans do. “Without teenagers we would never have become fully human,” says David Bainbridge of the University of Cambridge. “They are the most important part of human life.”
Next time you want to kill that special teen in your life, just remember that. Although, if they are obsessing over the Jonas Brothers while texting and hiding underneath a hoodie, it could be difficult. [New Scientist]
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Riley
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 08:00 am: [report]
That is if you believe in evolution. The world is only 2,000 years old and Jesus rode raptors. Archaeologists are all liars and Godless heathens.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 08:10 am: [report]
Children are useless. Only when they hit 16 and get that first job working at a coffee shop do they really have worth. Now get back to work and get me my coffee bitches!
Riley
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 08:12 am: [report]
Children make great pairs of Nike shoes. Also, their small hands are great for clearing obstructions in meat grinders.
*sam*
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 08:13 am: [report]
@cheeeeEEEEse: you forgot about how they can still do all the chores you hate doing yourself starting around… 5 or 6 depending on the chore
Once they hit 16, they’re useless bc by that time they’re mouthy and refuse to do the chores you had them to do in the first place and even if they do get you your coffee, it’s cold by the time it gets to you bc they took your car joy riding after work for an hour before coming home and claimed they had to “stay late bc someone called out.”
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 08:21 am: [report]
@sam: Don’t you have to pay them for that? Even socialism pays them…not much, but paid labor none the less.
*sam*
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 08:22 am: [report]
@CheeeeEEEEse: not if they’re your kids. labor laws be damned!
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 08:26 am: [report]
@sam: Even for slave labor I don’t want kids. I’ll just get the familys kids to get me beer at functions, tip em a nickle if they’re lucky.
Jenn27549
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 08:34 am: [report]
Well that proves we should be focusing MORE on making sure teenagers are taught the proper skills to do the “things that only humans do” then. By the time they are out of adolescence the window for the most malleable time in their development into adults has passed. It will be harder to undo all the bad stuff at that point.
Perceptible
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 09:28 am: [report]
Oh you lucky childless ones. I am jealous. However, if you find yourself envious of ME, I would be glad to lend you (give you) my boyfriends THREE teenage daughters. Cheap! Heck, I’ll even pay YOU to take them. I have my hands full with my 7 and 2 year old. I don’t think any of the five can manage a chore, or a job, even though the oldest are 19 and 14. If anyone knows how to make teens do chores or get a job, (or move out!) please let me know!
I think there should be a special school (country/island) where we send teenagers to live Lord-of-the-Flies style and then let them come home in time to go away to college, which they would pay for themselves. This should be Obama’s next mission once health care is all taken care of. Second anyone?
canadiancutie
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 09:31 am: [report]
What a cruel, cruel irony then that people have proven to be most reckless and without reasoning faculties during these years. How else do you explain taking up smoking and skateboarding?
joyy
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 09:44 am: [report]
@Perceptible - charge the 19 y.o. rent and cancel all forms of allowance for the 14 y.o. that aren’t earned/justified directly by some form of work/chore that has value to your family (not food and shelter of course, 14y.o.s should be in school). Seriously. And don’t foot the entire college bill either, even if you have money trees in your back yard. Signing promissory notes kills a little part of your soul that is either part of or directly linked to childishness hahaha.
Perceptible
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 09:51 am: [report]
@joyy, can I put you in touch with my boyfriend? Ha ha ha. (They’re his kids afterall.) I am with you 100% and have said as much. Many, many times. He’s in denial about his guilt over their mother leaving.
(The 19 y.o. got a GED cause she dropped out in 10th grade, and couldn’t hack community college. Right now she decorates the couch. The 14 y.o. is in school but gets pretty much anything she wants and is a spoiled brat. I hope the 11 y.o. can be saved, right now she’s a good kid, but as I said, I gotta focus on my kids, 7 and 2. For obvious reasons, my BF and I don’t live together. Not until the older two are OUT!)
Seriously, why does anyone have kids?! I’m only half kidding about sending teenagers to an island till they’re 20.
River
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 10:08 am: [report]
@Riley “Archaeologists are all liars and Godless heathens.”
Excuse me, dear sir. Heathen, mayhaps, but never a liar.
Now, if you’ll please excuse me; I have to go attend to my collection of Halafian pottery from 6,000 BCE.
You know, the stuff God used during his coffee breaks through that whole Creation period. Yeesh.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 10:12 am: [report]
@River: Every time the government burns a marijuana crop god gets the munchies.
joyy
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 10:20 am: [report]
@Perceptible - by all means : ) good luck !!!!!!!
likeOMGkbye
wrote on September 10 2009 @ 07:00 pm: [report]
I refuse to believe teenagers have any value.
impoddity
wrote on September 11 2009 @ 03:46 pm: [report]
I loved Lord of the Flies. I would have gladly lived apart from my family during my teenaged years. We have totally different views on living life in general, I practically flew from the house to a college dorm.
And I refused point blank to let my mom take out any type of aid to cover the cost of college for me. I don’t even fill out the FAFSA anymore. Not like I get any grants/scholarships anyway, because after living on my own since 18, I’m still considered a dependent and receive “some form of aid” from my parent.
Heh. The government’s way of saying, “We only care about the people who have three kids, are on welfare, and instead of working they want to go to school for free.” Did I mention some of those people are related to me? Talk about sh*tty end of a sick….
ohdanielle
wrote on September 12 2009 @ 07:59 pm: [report]
Wow really?
As a 15 year old [junior in high school], I’m a little offended by all the scrutiny of teenagers.
In fact, I know too many decent, responsible, respectful, and smart high school kids to understand why people are so cynical.
I know that SOME of us make our parents life hell with our selfish, impulsive, and sometimes dangerous actions, but we as a population are not THAT bad.
I personally am able to keep my grades up [top in my class], participate in drill team and debate team, never get in trouble at school, and handle chores when asked.
Of course at one point I was reckless, selfish and immature, but eventually, we all grow up and start taking responsibility [or at least that’s the way it’s supposed to happen].
It’s never about the mistakes we make while we’re young, but about our ability to learn from the experience.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on September 12 2009 @ 08:08 pm: [report]
You skip a couple grades? Because your math is a little screwy.
AChanceAtHeaven
wrote on September 12 2009 @ 08:10 pm: [report]
@ohdanielle: Teenagers come under such scrutiny because, in all honesty, “...decent, responsible, respectful, and smart high school kids…” are the minority. The majority, well, scare me.
ohdanielle
wrote on September 14 2009 @ 06:08 pm: [report]
@CheeeeEEEEse: I skipped 3rd grade, and my birthday comes late according to a school year(late May).
@AChanceAtHeaven: I don’t know. When people talk about all the trouble teenagers get into, I have a hard time believing it because I never actually see what they’re talking about. (Keep in mind that I go to a high school with one of the highest poverty AND teen pregnancy rates in the state of Texas. My student body isn’t exactly swarming with privileged, goal-oriented kids with encouraging parents.) And being in the middle of the teen years, I assume I’m bound to encounter these hooligans that apparently surround me.
Also, what’s “the majority?”