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Josie Hopper

ENG 101-004T

Paula Boyd

9 May 2019

Do We Ever Reach Adulthood or Do We Play the Part?

Adulthood can mean a variety of definitions, but what really defines being an adult? The

world we live in has many different guidelines for what determines what milestone, we should

attain at a certain age, but what happens after we reach the age of 21? Many youths think once

they hit the age of 18 they will be an “adult.” I was excited to wake up on my 18th birthday but

ultimately dissatisfied that by turning 18 did not feel as different from being 17 a day earlier.

When I reach the age of 21 will I feel different or changed? Probably not, but feeling “different”

on a milestone birthday should not count as becoming an adult, as many of the younger

generations think it does until they reach the given age. Many believe going to college and

getting a degree will prove to the world that they have achieved adulthood, but think college

falls short on teaching life skills. Why should we go to college?

So, what does it mean to be classified as an adult? Being an adult should come from

within and not follow the guidelines of what our society wants us to believe. Being an adult is

not from being a certain age or doing one thing, but it is through self-experiences, maturity, and

responsibility. From a 65-year-old subject, I interviewed also agreed when describing adulting

as stating, “Taking responsibility not only for their self but also others.” This got me thinking

what it truly means to be an adult, not only is it taking responsibility for their actions but also
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having responsibility for those around them that look up to them. Taking responsibility for

one’s self often means we take learning and what we do with our lives into our own hands.

When striving for adulthood and growing up we hear the occasional “School should

have taught me the skills needed for everyday life.” Schools help students achieve a higher

education to climb the working ladder in life, but many believe they should teach more on how

to be independent. In The Lessons I Didn’t Learn in College by Caitlin Petre she felt that college

did not teach her and her friends enough about getting a job and confusing government

paperwork. Certain skills are learned by trial and error, many times doing it on their own is a

great way to challenge themselves and taking responsibility. Having college teaching a class on

ultimate life survival would take forever, but in truth, many college graduates do not know how

to survive on their own. This includes normal household chores like; cooking, laundry, cleaning,

and common car and house repairs. My subject does not think it would believe it would be

possible to teach everything there is to know about growing up say that “Most of the things

that a person deals with daily are taught at home. Taking care of their home, laundry, cooking,

personal hygiene, and behavior are all things that are extremely important but are taught at

home. Schools and college are aimed more at preparing a person to enter the workforce than

teaching to be an adult” Being an adult is so much more than just getting a good job, although a

good paying job that they enjoy is great, being able to adapt to enjoy whatever job they have is

something that should be learned long before they get to college.

Certain events can also contribute to making people feel like adults. The first time I

realized I was heading toward adulthood would be when I had gotten into a car accident on

February 28th, just a month before my 18th birthday. My car was hit from the side and flipped
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many times, resulting in me having seven fractured vertebrae and numerous bruises all over.

Being in a back brace for many months, plus therapy made me realize that I am the only one

that can get me out of the brace by pushing past the pain through physical therapy. The money

I received from the accident made me realize that I would soon need to start saving for college

and a house afterward. The events that finally took me into adulthood was the year after I

graduated high school. During that summer I got into a serious relationship with my best friend.

Having someone to hang out with meant that I spent less time at home. A few months later

college would be in full swing. Not being home much taught me that I needed to learn how to

balance my money to eventually move out on my own. Looking for apartments and calculating

what I will need for my budget has been hard, but necessary on the road to adulthood. I believe

when I finally move out and look towards marriage, I will finally see myself as a true adult. With

my past experiences since high school, I have learned more on my own than I ever had in school

about how life works. I feel like I am an adult now, but not fully since I still live at home. When I

leave home, I will not have them close enough to depend on them for food and housing. By

moving out will I can define how I want to live my life, not by what my parents think I should

do. These experiences shaped the way I viewed growing up and how I define it.

To resume about interviewing my subject she realized that she was truly an adult when

her mother died of a heart attack at age 75 and six months later her father was killed after the

car that he was working on fell on him. This was the moment she truly felt like an adult stating,

“I was suddenly thrust into being an orphan, no longer having mom and dad to rely on for

emotional support, I was 49 years old when they died. Even though I’d been an adult for a long

time, I guess I hadn’t realized or thought about it until then.” Finding out in the event of having
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no one to turn to at any age can give a rude awaking about being an adult on their own. Even

though she considered herself to be an adult it did not sink in until she felt alone without

someone being there to turn to.

Some struggles of life are the same through each generation. Each generation has

different struggles, but with each generation it depends on how they face them. Caitlin Petre

struggles of trying to afford rent and having food was a common struggle she faced. Everyone

has problems they face, it depends what they do to get past them and rise above and beyond

the problem and soon they can look back at where they have been and see how much they

grew as a person from that struggle. My subject feels that the struggles that this generation

faces are the same struggles when she went through this stage in life. With her stating “The

same temptations that have been around since Biblical times are still there, sex, drugs, alcohol.

Each generation thinks that they’ve invented all these, but they’ve been around since the

beginning. It’s never been easy to get a good job, a job yes, but not a good job. Some of today’s

young adults want to start at the top, but that’s an impossibility.”

Getting a good education and having a great work ethic can help with these struggles. I

think this is mostly true, every generation has a few different struggles then past generations.

Technology has a role to play in how we get our information and choose what is we find is true

or false. A very important skill school gave me for growing up is knowledge to decipher what is

real and false online. Having a problem in life is natural and part of growing up, learning from

them is how to be better prepared in the future.

In the final analysis, everyone has their own combination of struggles and experiences

that defines them as an adult. The word adult is defined by the person asked. Through life, I
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honestly do not think anyone really knows what they are doing. It is small experiences and

struggles that can make us realize we are adults. In the end are we really adults or just acting

the part in the big production we call life?

I honor Parkland's core values by affirming that I have followed all academic integrity

guidelines for this work