Let's Abolish Adolescence

Did you know?  They don’t have adolescence in most societies.  At some point children go through a coming-of-age ritual and they become adults.

Now Robert Epstein in The Case Against Adolescence argues that we should abolish adolescence.  Instapundit Glenn Reynolds is interested. 

Epstein’s new book argues that adolescence is an artificial and unnecessary part of life that people are better off without.

An argument against adolescence is made also by Judith Rich Harris in The Nurture Assumption. Harris asks why we are throwing teenagers together in adolescent-only institutions like high school and college if we want them to conform to our adult culture.

By herding teenagers together we allow them to achieve strategic concentration and combine against us.

There are additional links on Epstein’s book here and here.

We at Road to the Middle Class are all in favor of adultifying teenagers, for a number of reasons.

The advocates of the welfare state have insistent that their compulsory education and child labor laws were all for the children.

But underneath the mask of concern is a reality of self-interest.  Ever since government education got started the educationists always want to extend the period of compulsory education.

And labor unions have an obvious interest in making the low-wage competition of teenagers illegal.

The thing is: parents and children should have the right to control their own destinies, and not be ordered around by government experts.

Remember, adult literacy in the United States has not changed in the 150 years since the dawn of compulsory government education of children.  What does that tell you?