Emma’s Dilemmas Issue 6

It’s become all too common for people to look at high schoolers and tell them to “act their age,” but as a high school junior, it’s difficult to know what exactly that looks like. It seems as though the further we progress in time, the more gray area there is as to what is acceptable, especially when being told conflicting information.

Adults will look at adolescent girls and tell them to cover up more, because it’s unladylike to leave so little to the imagination. They couldn’t imagine themselves wearing that as a teenager, so how can we? At the same time, peers will eye you up and down if you aren’t wearing clothing that tailors to their personal style, which is to say the trending clothing on social media. 

As a junior, you’re expected to take exams such as the ACT, which can prove crucial for those trying to apply to more rigorous institutions in their near future, but you’re expected not to stress about it. Choose not to focus on it too much because you don’t have intent to submit your scores to universities? You’re ridiculed and told you need to focus on your impending future, or you’ll go nowhere in life. But, it’s just a test, right?

Furthermore, everyone claims that you have all the time in the world to figure out your future when you’re a teenager, despite the constant pressure put on high school students to explore their options and sign up for classes that will pertain to their future major. This pressure is somewhat ridiculous considering the fact that high school students have only lived a mere fraction of their lives, not having much of a basis to make such large decisions. 

For those focused on their schooling, not wanting to explore romantic relationships, they will face judgment by other students and are labeled “undesirable”. So many teenagers are unable to fathom a life where they aren’t in some sort of relationship, fearing the judgment of others and loneliness of being by themselves. All the while, society is also degrading them for being in one relationship after the other, not willing to listen to the reason why.

Contradictions further present themselves when generations will drone on about how teens need to put their phones down, which is easy to say when having grown up without such technology. For the adolescents they’re speaking of, however, their social lives tend to exist on their phone, even if that looks like half-face snaps and over-edited Instagram pictures.

All of these factors are bound to make students feel as though they’re being forced to grow up, yet they’re supposed to enjoy their youth simultaneously. Case in point: it’s impossible to please everyone. Perhaps we should stop passing judgment on one another and let people figure out what “acting their age” means to them.