Baccalaureate Year 1D English

Adolescence, both the beauty and the beast

There are many among the adolescent generation who feel broken or out of place, different somehow, a member of royalty mistakenly born into a family of peasants. Traditionally, change has always been perceived as somewhat unfavorable and dreadful. Therefore, adolescence, a period of complete transition, is often viewed with a negative connotation. Nonetheless, should not there always be more than one version of reality? While the first text makes the point thet teenage years, although intense, do come with a break in the clouds. The second writer highlights the possible detrimental influence that excessively controlling parents can have on the youth during this sensitive period.

The first text gives prominence to the fact that one of the most conventional wisdoms of the present era is that teenage years are a horribly stressful and frightening period of life marked by rebellion and discord. In contrast to the former, the first writer stipulates that adolescence is also a magical time of growth, self-exploration and self-discovery. Hastily, he/she states that indubitably, although these things may be true, it is also a time of pain, embarrassment, self-doubt, awkwardness, and loss into the bargain. While the writer makes some valid arguments about the nature of adolescence, pinpointing its both arduous and exceptional beyond belief aspects, she/he seems to have gone ever so slightly overboard in their scathing words recounting the darker sides of being a young adult. “Adolescence is a new birth, for the higher and more completely human traits are born”, it is a time of self-reflection and new friendships. At last, being seen as adults and gaining a sliver of liberty, which we have been lusting after ever since being able to walk, can often scare us silly, frightening us of our own shadow. Albeit, it lays at our feet an opportunity to spread our wings and do something reckless once in a while. Unquestionably, the author hit precisely the right note saying that being a teenager involves all manner of intense and unpleasant experiences. Then again, for all the turmoil that keeps on ebbing and flowing, there is always the good that makes it all worth it.

Alternatively, text two places an emphasis on the fact that the lives of those caring for teenagers will not get any easier by acknowledging that their moody, distant, strident, and defiant behaviors are not only a given when it comes to this period of time but also downright unavoidable. Nonetheless, the writer accentuates that it might at least put their mind at ease and lift some weight off their shoulders knowing that they did not make a botch of parenting. He/she follows up by asserting that when it comes to adolescent psychological development, it appears that the more one tries to interfere, postpone, or mold it in your own image, the bigger the problems become and the worse is the headache that comes along with them. What’s more, the writer states that excessive supervision not only exacerbates these complications but has an even more negative effect on the children. Having read this text, I wholeheartedly concur that although at first it may feel like getting blood from a stone, helicopter and snow-plight parents ought to comprehend that adolescence is a time when teenager are in need of some space, some freedom and need to be able come up for air and make decisions on their own. At the outset it may seem unfathomable for parental figures to let go of their control and can even make their blood run cold. Nevertheless, not doing so can put a tremendous strain on family relations and in turn cause the opposite effect of what the parents originally intended. Teenagers need the reassurance that they can be themselves and know that they can convey their feelings no matter how unpredictable they may be, without having anyone trying to “fix” them.

Essentially, I believe that adolescence is war, and no one escapes unscathed. It is a period of trauma and societal pressure where individuals are expected to put aside their authentic selves and display only small portions of their gifts. Notwithstanding, adolescence emerges from its dark shadow of negativity and reveals its genuine, and unforgettable, hues only when the child learns how to make it among the grownups of this world, and recognizes that no one is flawless, and that it is ok.