WEB EXCLUSIVE

Is it wrong for a high schooler to fall asleep holding a teddy bear? In today’s open-minded, modern society, it’s very common for people to encourage individuality in all aspects: through love life, expressing idiosyncrasy and defying expectations. Why, then, is it so weird and wrong for a teenager to act younger?

It’s an unsaid cultural agreement that being adult is better than being adolescent. As a five-year-old, being “grown up” means you have the freedom to go to bed when you want and hang out with the adults during a party. As a 13-year-old, being older means you earn the ability to be in high school (which seems exciting and incredible when you’re not in it), and when you’re a 15-year-old, a license and car is the only thing in sight.

The perpetual yearning and waiting of people in Western cultures leads to a constant dissatisfaction, which promotes an indefinite want for something ahead and unattainable through anything but time. Naturally, people enjoy the privileges and gifts that come with age, but along with the convivial benefits, people are tied down to responsibilities.

Responsibilities come slowly first, then rapidly increase as people are expected to become a legal adult by the age of 18. In eighth grade, teenagers aren’t even trusted enough to go to the bathroom without asking; but suddenly, in four years, graduated 12th graders are expected to pay the water bill and buy their own toilet paper.

In the four years spent in high school, teenagers begin to assume responsibility quickly. As freshmen, 14-year-olds are already pushed to take a class meant for college attendees. Sophomore year comes with another load of honors and AP courses, as well as SAT and ACT scores to consider. As juniors, students begin to crumble–already–underneath responsibilities and exhaustion from the classes, jobs and clubs required to get a college acceptance letter, especially because the grades and GPA of this year are the most crucial. By senior year, many people are exhausted, but still push through their ridiculously difficult classes and try not to panic about all of the college applications and scholarships they must sort through.

The wrong thing about our efficient and fast-paced society is the fact that children are expected to lose their childish joys, both assuming the emotional stress and the intense pressure of being in adult, in one year. In 365 days, 18-year-olds make the life-changing decision about which college they’re going to attend, move away from their families and friends and strive to pursue a clouded and distant dream…because they’re told they should. Worst of all, graduated seniors are forced to leave an entire life, one that they’ve spent nine hours a day, five days a week creating for the last four years, and move on to a world of people they don’t know.

Sometimes, the extreme panic and fear of decisions makes me want to crawl in bed and pull the blanket over my head. In the six months between acceptance letters and enrollment deposits, I have to choose a path that will completely transform my entire life; colleges and high schools don’t allow “good students” to take their time. Beyond high school, an entire life of debt, difficult courses, and the pressure to succeed wait for all graduating seniors. Sometimes I just want to crawl back in bed and act like a four-year-old again, or fly away with Peter Pan and live where reality doesn’t taint dreams.

Is that wrong? Once I am handed car keys and diplomas, is my chance to act freely and express myself without judgment over? When I get too excited playing jeopardy in English or giggle senselessly at a pun, does that make me “stupid” or “immature”?

I think that the beautiful innocence of children is something that should never be forgotten or let go. So what if I hold Mr. Fuzzywuzzy tightly as I sleep? His fur is comforting and, for a little while, he allows me to forget the social pressures of being an adult.