For living in a free society, today’s culture seems to center itself around limits, living within boundaries that say who can do what and when they can do it. Recently, the focus seems to revolve around age limits, deciding when a teen can buy tobacco, when they can drive a car, consume alcohol, be relieved of a curfew, see an R-rated movie or stay at home alone. Limits define the differences between children, teens, and young adults, but are they really necessary?
Historically, social age limits can say a lot about a culture. In past times, women who were not married at sixteen with multiple kids were considered frumpy, old, and inconsiderable for marriage. In today’s world, a married, pregnant teen is considered outside of societal norm. Inna Kagan, one of Neuqua’s Sociology teachers, told The Echo that states have been thinking about increasing marriage age limits due to high divorce rates. Society seems to be defined by limits, as well as vice versa. Even in cultures around the world today, there are extreme variations in the values of each society, which is reflected directly by their age laws. In a survey of 110 countries around the world taken by the International Center for Alcohol Polices, the United States was among only seven countries whose drinking age was 21 or above. This may send multiple messages to other countries; it could say that the United States does not place enough trust on the younger generation, or that Americans live in a stricter society.
When it comes to other issues though, decreasing social age limits may become a concern. Regardless of what the law says, thirteen-year-olds are seeing R-rated movies, alcohol and drugs seem to be reaching kids younger and younger with each generation. These laws are meant to protect adolescents both emotionally and physically, but when they are broken consistently, it is questionable whether or not they are doing their job. A perfect example of this occurred recently, at this year’s Beijing Olympic Games. It was suggested that two of the female gymnastic competitors from China were not sixteen, the minimum age to compete in the Olympics. Internationally, people began to question whether age is relevant when it comes to that level of competition. Mark Florence, a Physical Education instructor and Neuqua trainer explained, “The real threat is what happens to the kids down the road, especially female athletes.” He further clarified that the younger athletes may be more flexible due to their age, but will be more prone to have injuries later in their lives. In addition, female athletes are more at risk of developing physical problems due to over training at a young age.  Florence and Rich Monis, another P.E. teacher and athletic trainer, agreed that age limits in the Olympics are still relevant and necessary to protect the athletes competing in the Olympic Games.
The logical follow up question to all of these trends is who will change society’s boundaries in the future? What limits will America make or break?
By Kelly Klus, Echo staff writer
