It was once common for folks to get married in this country (espcecially women) at 14-15 years old. This “adulthood begins at 18” is largely a post-war concept. I’m sorry, but I find it hard to believe that anyone past 15 is a “child” unless their parents didn’t wean them properly.
Have you talked to any High School kids?
The ones with the Pokemon and Hello Kitty toys hanging off their phones?
Trust me. They are not adults, they just want to think of themselves as such. I’m a school crossing guard. 12.00 an hour for crossing Jr. High kids at a light. At first I thought it wasn’t needed. Then I did the job. They are really children. My nine year old is more mature.
Traditional values were also common back then but today they are under constant attack. Besides it was not ‘special interest’ groups, lawyers, and political activists that were behind any early emancipation of children back in those days as it is today. You are not seeing the forest through the trees.
It was also common to allow wives to be legally beaten, and women and children treated as property, but we’ve wised up since then.
Have you spent any time around 16 and 17 year olds? Kids are much ‘younger’ today than they were even in my day (I graduated high school in 1990), and certainly less mature and responsible than in my parents’ day.
Of course, it varies by child. But boys’ brains do not fully develop til mid-20’s. That speaks more accurately to ‘adulthood’ than any made-up cultural milestone.
Interesting point. thanks.