Rites Of Passage
When it comes to adolescents many of the “primitive” societies have a much better system than Western “civilization.” There is usually some task set for children at about age 13 that carries a certain level of risk. If the individual successfully completes the task, they are accepted as an adult.
Lacking a traditional structure for this rite, middle school and high school students devise their own systems for determining who should be accepted into the “tribe.” And who should be rejected.
Bullying in one form or another is a feature of the American version of this rite, and it has resulted in major incidents of physical and psychological violence. While the damage to the victims of physical violence is obvious, one of the less visible effects is that some of the victims become media pundits who have never grown up and are still attempting to be accepted as adults.
November 18, 2006 4 Comments
