“Underage drinking has reached epidemic proportions in America” warns Joe Califano, head of the private National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA). His alarm is ominous, even frightening, as he calls for strong action in response to this national crisis. But relax. Underage drinking isn’t increasing — it’s actually dropping! Not only are fewer…
This excerpt is just a small section from many essays, articles, documents, and letters written on discrimination due to lack of age that one can find on the internet: Thomas Jefferson, one of the founders of this country said that “Those who would sacrifice a little freedom for a little security will lose both and…
The Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), a private interest group, claims that people aged 12 to 20 account for 25 percent, or one-fourth, of all alcohol consumed in the U.S. That assertion was the headline of the CASA press release and become the one featured by many news media. But the Substance Abuse…
The lyrics, “Alcohol my permanent accessory, alcohol a party-time necessity, alcohol alternative to feeling like yourself, oh alcohol I still drink to your health” Can be heard in a familiar song titled “Alcohol” by Barenaked Ladies. This song shows how deeply alcohol has embedded itself in our society and our lives. Some may regard this…
Youth Liberation seeks to change how adults treat young people. But what makes someone an “adult”? Who falls into the category of “young people”? Where is the line between these two groups? I. THREE MODELS OF AGE Before we begin trying to answer these questions, it’s valuable to take a step back and look first…
Throughout history dominant majorities have redirected public attention away from the majorities’ problems and onto an artificially created scapegoat. Many countries have used a variety of scapegoats throughout time; this practice leads to persecution and anger towards the selected minority. Today in North American society a new scapegoat is being fabricated, this scapegoat is our…
In 1988, the William T. Grant Foundation released a report that found the picture painted by adult culture of youth in our society as pervasively negative. The commission wrote, There is a portrait of youth that is not only misleading, but harmful. We ought to correct the record out of a sense of fairness, as…
The case of In Re Gault started when Gerald Gault a 15-year-old citizen of Arizona made several lewd telephone calls to a neighbor. After a complaint by that neighbor Gault was arrested and detained by police. Gault’s parents worried that their son was not at home that day, searched for their missing child. Gault’s parents…
Suppose you suddenly found yourself in the body of a twelve-year-old child. Suppose that despite this physical transformation, your personality, your knowledge and every other aspect of your mind remained unchanged. How might this affect your life? This was the theme of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (entitled “Rascals”). A transporter malfunction…
This is my first blog post in far too long. In fact, I’ve been depressingly absent from NYRA for quite a while. Two things are bringing me back here. The first is that I suddenly find myself with a rare free few hours. The second is, oddly enough, my 21st birthday, which was almost two…
