Last edited Tue May 28, 2013, 02:07 PM - Edit history (1)
I am talking about how people you are with for the single largest chunk of the day, 5 days a week interact with you - because that is primarily what forms your sense of your place in the world and power in interactions with other people.
I don't know anyone who starts interacting with people differently because they reached a magic age (or, in college, those who have not yet reached a magic age). On the other hand how people interact with you changes very dramatically when you move from high school (or into the work world after high school).
As a high school teacher there was absolutely no distinction between students who were 17 and students who were 18-21 in my classroom. They did not suddenly become my peers - or stop being peers of their classmates. I still communicated with their parents about them, their grades, their issues doing homework, special awards they might be receiving, and so on. Their parents still signed off on schedule changes, or other important documents, and so on.
In college, on the other hand, as a 17 year old college student - the college communicated directly with me even though I was not yet a legal adult, and expected me - not my parents - to be making important decisions about my life in college.
Yes, there are legal markers that happen when you turn 18 (and 21), but passing through those markers have very little real impact on whether you feel like (and interact with others as) a child or an adult.
ETA: I also just ran across this interesting tidbit about how Florida treats 18 year olds who have not yet graduated from high school and the age of majority (or removal of the "disability of nonage"
- it would take more research than I'm interested in investing to track down the case law to see how this exception is applied, but the court does apparently, in some circumstances, treat 18 year olds still in high school as minors:
Residents of Florida are permitted to leave home when they reach the age of majority, which is 18. According to Florida Statutes Title XLIII, Chapter 743.07, "the disability of nonage is hereby removed for all persons in this state who are 18 years of age or older, and they shall enjoy and suffer the rights, privileges, and obligations of all persons 21 years of age or older except as otherwise excluded by the State Constitution." The court makes exceptions for those who are mentally or physically disabled. Exceptions are also made for 18-year-old residents who are still in high school, provided they have a "reasonable expectation of graduation before the age of 19."
Read more: Florida State Laws on Legal Age to Leave Home | eHow http://www.ehow.com/list_6907156_florida-legal-age-leave-home.html#ixzz2UcDhFsOH
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