“The teenager seems to have replaced the Communist as the appropriate target for public controversy and foreboding”. ~Edgar Friedenberg, The Vanishing Adolescent

Teenager. The last ones to experience something close to racism in America. So similar is this prejudism to that against the blacks, the Hispanic, the Native Americans, that you think we would realize it is wrong. But we don’t. The only other ones to experience this much hatred in America today are probably the homosexuals of America, also wrong. However, America is beginning to come to terms with their issues with homosexuals. Laws are being made and gays are becoming more and bolder. However, teens still remain in the shadows.

I have to wake up every morning at 5:00am and go to school. That’s earlier than most of America’s work-force wakes up. I have to go to school and be told by a security guard that I am too young, too irresponsible to be allowed to walk to a shop directly next to the school to buy a soda. Every day, I have to be patronized by adults everywhere because I am a “kid”. This humiliation is near unbearable.

Some of us deserve this treatment. Some of us spray graffiti on public property, calling it “tagging”. Some of us skip school or sleep in class. However, what of us that doesn’t. What of the teens who work hard and still get treated like shit, or patronized by a free, damn lunch for perfect attendance. We get crammed into perfect categories, forced by a corrupt system to be hated and punished. Yet, some of us do rebel against these unfair authorities the correct way, even though we are usually punished.

Do you know why suicide is one of the leading causes of deaths in teens? Because of what the adults of America has done to silence us. Few of us are even allowed to think for ourselves! We are forced to go to school, which incase you haven’t noticed, resembles prisons very much. Guards, intense rules, thick walls and little daylight. That’s the reason suicide is the leading cause of death in teens.

So, what should we do, in case you’re wondering? It would be very smart to stop it. If you where allow us teens to be people, life would be a lot easier. Unfortunately, when we become you, we tend to get lazy and just forget about it. Why worry anymore, after all. However, this will never stop until we make it. So I ask all of the United States of America, all of the world, to rise up and let teens live. Don’t punish all of us, or prejudge us. Stop thinking we can continue waking up at 5:00am and not be depressed. Help us please. You may be surprised at who we really are.