[Jenna G.]

Do people think that adults are needed to maintain peace in society? Is their authority really necessary?

User Detail :  

Name : Jenna G., Gender : F, Age : 15, City : Honolulu, State : HI Country : United States, 

[Jacqueline-C21002]

Adults are responsible for the well-being of their children, so it follows that they will also have authority over those children. Children are not born knowing how to care for themselves and get along in the world; someone has to take care of them. As children get older, they learn to do more for themselves until eventually they are autonomous adults. Children need to have the guidance of adults to learn all the things they need to learn before they reach adulthood.

User Detail :  

Name : Jacqueline-C21002, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 26, City : San Jose, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Cindy31945]

Adults are necessary. Children think they know what's best for them and others, but they do not have the foresight and experience to guide them to make the right decisions. There have to be rules in this society, and someone has to enforce them. Can we count on children and teenagers to do that? I don't think so.

User Detail :  

Name : Cindy31945, Gender : F, Age : 25, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, 

[Pete S.]

Good question, Jenna, it strikes on multiple planes. Let's see, where to begin. Obviously, from a 15-year-old's perspective, adults are getting on your nerves with all their 'rules' and you are questioning their function in society. That's a good thing, it means that you are beginning to get involved in the larger world outside of that which you have known for the past 15 years. In other words, you're growing up. To be sure, adults don't always have the right answer, whether it is to maintain peace or anything else. We haven't done such a great job in the past, look at all the wars and conflicts we have had in the history of the world. These conflicts weren't initiated by kids, it was by the adults who were supposed to make the best decisions for all of us. One thing that most intelligent adults recognize is that life is a continual learning process. Just because we finished school doesn't mean that we stopped learning. That accumulated knowledge is supposed to provide us some insights on life and how to maintain the peace. It doesn't always make us right, it only makes us experienced. Someone much smarter than I once said 'those who don't know their history are condemned to repeat it.' If we apply what life has taught us and we know our history, we should be able to do a better job of maintaining the peace. Therein lies what I believe is the root of the issue for you, Jenna. Most of us slept through history and don't pay any attention to it now, therefore, we are repeating it on all levels of society.

User Detail :  

Name : Pete S., Gender : M, Age : 51, City : Orlando, State : FL Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, 

[Lynn T.]

It's interesting that the people who have responded to this question so far are both relatively young. Do people older than 25/26 feel the same way? I think adults should act as guides rather than authorities. We need to help children learn to think for themselves, and this cannot be done by randomly granting or taking away priveleges. Even young children deserve explanations for *why* something can or can't be done. Older people do have more life experience, but this does not guarantee that they never make mistakes. Adults do not only teach children to read, they can also teach them to hate. Even when parents disagree with children, there are times when the child must make hir own decisions, or s/he might not be able to make independent life decisions life ten years later.

User Detail :  

Name : Lynn T., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 21, City : Minneapolis, State : MN Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[N.G.]

I suspect what is more important than adult versus youngers is maturity. As a broad generalization, the older someone is, the more mature they are. On the other hand I have known some incredibly mature children and some unbelievably immature adults. As someone who desperately wanted to be accorded adult status when I was a teen, there are moments when I would gladly shuck all responsibilities as a mother and Program Director for the crisis control organization I work at to go back to the semi-freedom from responsibility that I had in my teen years. Enjoy it while you're young. (G-d, I HATED hearing that when I was 15!! Yeesh!)

User Detail :  

Name : N.G., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 30, City : Lethbridge, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : Program Director, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Niamh]

i'm not too much older than you, but yep, i do think that adults are needed in society. a little bit older and wiser now that i am 18, i realise that many of my views and opinions when i was younger(and those of my peers) would not be condusive to a healthy society - now that i'm a little(!) bit more grown up i realise that we all need to be older before we can make the really important decisions.

User Detail :  

Name : Niamh, Age : 18, City : dublin, State : NA Country : Ireland, 

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