Eighteen

Eighteen, the Identity Young, reckless, frivolous, self-absorbed, carefree, troublesome, not quite a child but not quite an adult - is often the description attached with eighteen year olds.

Without the added layers of meaning from society, the word "eighteen" has this unbiased definition: the number seventeen plus one, an age. The many presumptions made about this word however, have made it more than just an age.

"Eighteen" becomes a label used by different people with different points to make about others they hardly know. For this eighteen year old, "eighteen" is a word describing someone still caught within a transitional phase who is thus, very difficult to define.

So in terms of society or government, eighteen is the age of adulthood. The age at which many new responsibilities and freedoms- finance, parental independence, the choice to smoke - are granted.

To my parents, I am definitely not an eighteen year old who is financially capable (I still get allowance) and I am definitely not an eighteen year old who's grown to be fully independent (I still live at home).

So it follows that they would go against the argument that I am an adult. At least sometimes, when the situation favors them. Those days I'm out past the terribly late curfew of ten o'clock, I get the speech about how I am still eighteen and young; not yet old enough to be out at such an ungodly hour.

Oddly enough, their sights can turn a good 180 degrees the next day. "You're eighteen. You're an adult!" is the rebuke thrown at me when I neglect my responsibilities at home. How easily their viewpoints change when it suits their taste!

The Hayakawas, authors of "Giving Things Names," had made this same point about how a cow holds different names for each unique specialization. The meat industry can see "cow" as "beef," the leather industry may refer to "cow" as "hide," and the biologist may know "cow" to be "bovine." Each calls the cow what is appropriate for their field of expertise.

"What we call things and where we draw the line between one class of things and another depend upon the interests we have and the purposes of the classification," mark the Hayakawas. My parents hold true to this statement when they play the varying roles of protector and disciplinarian.

As protector, they define "eighteen" as not being old enough. On the other hand, as disciplinarians, "eighteen" suddenly becomes too old. In fairness to my mom and dad though, I too am guilty of twisting the word eighteen to my liking.

If eighteen truly is the age of adulthood, why is it that smoking becomes an option but drinking is still restricted? Adults are seen as people being able to make rational and responsible decisions on their own.

If eighteen year olds are able to make the weighty decision of who shall take the next presidential seat, why aren't they given the choice to drink? This is a phenomenon that has always intrigued me.

At the same time (though this goes against the typical view of an adult), I don't believe eighteen year olds are yet capable of being financially independent. The media has often depicted college students living with parents as irresponsible or immature.

To the contrary, with steadily rising tuition costs and the dramatic increase of college enrollment, it's very difficult to focus dually on paying off debts and being a sound student let alone living independently. It's a feat even Spiderman couldn't endure.

The late R&B artist, Aaliyah, titled her first album "Age ain't Nothing but a Number." Questions being made about her maturity as an artist, Aaliyah simply wanted others to overlook her youth and judge her album based upon her talents. I've encountered numerous occasions when my actions and thoughts were suddenly not my own but that of eighteen year olds worldwide.

There is the tendency to forget that as a person, I can act and think independently of others precisely because of that number which I fall under. My uncle, a high school teacher working in the heart of LA, once made an offhand remark to me about my age group and my role within.

I was reasoning with my mom about how a cell phone would alleviate many of the contact problems we had with one another when my uncle made a comment undermining my case and belittling me. He argued that as a teenager, I would of course want a cell phone because "everyone else had or wanted one."

I was just another mindless sheep following the herd. "Everyone" had one, so it naturally went with the stereotype of teenagers - being easily influenced by peers and thinking with one mind - that I would want one too. I could understand how he could make such a terrible presumption.

He dealt with students my age that showed higher respect for their peers than their teachers. His description for my age group fit that aspect of his life. He used it to explain people he couldn't understand. So what is being eighteen exactly?

It's a fuzzy age holding different meanings to different people, or different meanings even to the same person. When I want to be out late, I'm eighteen, the responsible adult who can take care of herself. When I want my mom to cook for me and do my laundry, I'm eighteen, the not quite adult who still can't quite be on her own.

When I go to the park and still play on the monkey bars, I'm eighteen, the young girl trying to preserve her childhood. When I go to school and find things that interest me, I'm eighteen, the eager scholar trying to make sense of the world and herself within it.

I'm eighteen, an indefinite age with many faces trying to mold into one.

Article provided by

View more articles | Information provided by collegeanduniversity.net