Smoking? Combat? Wait Till 21, Young Recruits Say



The New York TimesMandatory Service to Become an?Adult By: Michael Thompson (Updated: May 28th, 2012)Children are so variable in their growth and the ways in which cultures understand child development are so different, it is futile to attempt to pin down the “right” age of majority. The Dutch, for example, allow children to drink at the age of 16 but not to drive until they are 19. Even if I thought it was a good idea to lower the drinking age and raise the driving age -- and I do -- I recognize that the U.S. would never embrace it.I am more concerned with the issue of maturity than I am with the technical age of majority. Researchers and observers have noted that while our children are getting brighter (I.Q. scores have been going up for the last two decades), they are relatively immature for their ages in comparison to earlier generations. Over-protected by their parents and spending vast amounts of time in front of TV, computers and cellphones (over 50 hours a week by middle adolescence, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation), they are less skilled in the world, less able to build friendships and function in groups, and more reliant on their parents.Instead of fiddling with the age of majority, we should encourage our children to grow up, and mandatory service would do just that. We should require all 18-year-olds in America to leave home and give a year to society, either in the military or in community-based projects like tutoring younger children or working in retirement homes or the inner city. The result would be a cohort of more mature 19-year-olds who would make better workers and citizens.Why Do the British Armed Forces Still Allow 16-year-olds to Enlist?Leo Hickman, Tue 23 Apr 2013 - UK News, The GuardianIn the UK, 16-year-olds cannot vote, drive a car or drink alcohol. But they can join the army, and this week two charities, Child Soldiers International and ForcesWatch, accused the Ministry of Defence of perpetuating the "outdated" practice of recruiting children into the forces. The charities argued that the government was wasting taxpayers' money – as much as ?94m a year – recruiting 16-year-olds into the army. The MoD disputed the figure, instead arguing that under-18s joining the army enjoy a wide range of benefits, training and experiences.But, beyond the arguments about costs, there is the fundamental issue of how children develop the desire to be soldiers? The army states that it doesn't recruit children under the age of 16 and that soldiers must be 18 before they can be deployed to the front line. However, it does host a section on its website called The Camouflage aimed specifically at 14 to 16-year-olds "looking for more info on army life", which offers a target-shooting game for children: "The SA80 is the standard issue rifle for all soldiers – so you'll need to become familiar with it.""We don't go into schools to recruit," says Nick Richardson, the colonel in charge of recruiting at the MoD. "We only enter schools to support the curriculum and for awareness-raising. We advertise on TV and in cinemas, plus we have stands at careers fairs and milk rounds. Parents are engaged throughout and must sign a consent form." But allowing 16-year-olds to enlist means "[we] end up with some really good, focused soldiers. They serve longer – 8.8 years, on average – than those who enter aged 18 and over [5.1 years]."Around 20% of new entrants into the army have been cadets at school, says Melanie Bowran, spokeswoman for the Army Cadet Force, which is "largely sponsored" by the army: "The cadets get to meet serving soldiers on a social, casual basis and attend summer camps. They will often be affiliated to a particular regiment. But we don't recruit. We never instigate it. If a cadet raises the subject and shows an interest we will simply hand them over to the army recruiters. The cadets began in the 1850s as a way to recruit soldiers, but it hasn't been that way for decades."But on ARSSE (Army Rumour Service), which claims to be the "UK's largest and busiest UNofficial military website", there was support for 16-year-olds joining the army. "[It is] one of the last channels of social mobility for bright and reasonably fit youngsters from all strata of society," remarked "Brotherton Lad". "On balance, I think it's a good thing for the individuals, the army and society in the round."The New York TimesSmoking? Combat? Wait Till 21, Young Recruits Say By?Anemona Hartocollis (Updated April 23rd, 2013)Nicole Michell Phipps, a soft-spoken 21-year-old woman in a furry hood who showed up at the Navy recruitment center in Harlem on Tuesday, said she was drawn to the military in search of more “structure” in her life. She was hesitating about signing up for the military because she knew she could be risking her life. At 18, she said, she had not been ready for such a choice. “I would say, yeah, 18, you just come out of high school,” Ms. Phipps said. “You’re really not sure what to do. I would say 21 is probably the best.” The same went for smoking, she said. Voting? “I think 18 is good for that,” she said. “It’s not causing harm to your body.”When New York City officials proposed on Monday?to raise the minimum age?to legally buy tobacco in the city to 21 from 18 — which would make it the highest of any major city in the United States — people across the country, commenting on news Web sites, were outraged by a seeming inconsistency. Updating a well-traveled argument about minimum drinking ages, they considered it ludicrous that 18-year-olds would be able to fight in wars but not buy cigarettes.As it turned out, many of the young people walking into the military recruitment center on 125th Street the next day also saw the inconsistency. In general, they thought that it was true that they were not mature enough to make life-or-death decisions on their own before 21. That applied not only to smoking and drinking, but also to combat. They saw a dangerous world out there, and they wanted to be protected from it as long as they could be. If it were up to them, they said, no one could fight in a war until 21. And if the city wanted to act in loco parentis on something as bad as smoking, well then, that seemed right to them, too.Patrick Brown, a lanky 21-year-old with braces on his teeth, said that just three years ago, he would never have enlisted on his own. It would have to be “50-50” with his mother, and even now, he said, he had consulted her, and felt better knowing that “she was O.K. with it.” Eighteen, Mr. Brown said, is too young to fight and die for your country. Is it too young to smoke? “If the parent condones it, then I guess it’s acceptable,” Mr. Brown, a nonsmoker, said.Ms. Phipps said she had once tried cigarettes but did not like them. Every decision is like a life lesson, Ms. Phipps said. “At 18, you are supposed to make bad decisions.” Brain experts say that Ms. Phipps is right, that the teenage brain is different. “The executive function, the portion of the brain which is capable of making certain types of decisions, is really not fully developed until actually over 21,” said Cheryl G. Healton, dean of Global Public Health at New York University, and a supporter of the higher age minimum.Older adults with the benefit of a lot of hindsight might tend to agree. But a few veterans interviewed Tuesday saw the city’s proposal as patronizing. Raul Gonzalez, 34, of the Bronx, who served in the Army in the late 1990s, smokes a pack of cigarettes a day as a way to take his mind off back pain from years of lifting heavy artillery. “If you’re old enough to serve your country, then you’re old enough to make your own decisions on what you do to your body,” he said while outside a Veterans Affairs center in Lower Manhattan.But a few moments later, he began to rethink his position. “It could help a lot of people out,” noting that a week ago he buried his 60-year-old father, a heavy smoker who died from throat cancer. But Mr. Gonzalez added that for anyone under 21 who is serving in the military, “there should be exceptions” to the law.At the Harlem recruitment center, Dana Farmer Jr., 24, said he thought that 18-year-olds were not mature enough to make decisions about war or smoking, but also that raising the age to buy cigarettes would not stop them from smoking if they wanted to. He said he hoped to play tenor sax in the Navy band as a strategy to avoid being shot at in Afghanistan. He was considering signing up so he could pay off his college loans faster than if he continued to work for low wages at Duane Reade, but he knew he was potentially endangering his life. “You’ve got to take the good with the bad,” he said. At 18, was he mature enough to figure that out? He answered instantly: “No, no, no.”Article 1: “Mandatory Service to Become an Adult”1. Quote the thesis statement (author’s stance / belief he is arguing for):2. The Dutch allow people to drink at age __________ and drive at age __________. 3A. “Even if I thought it was a good idea to lower the drinking age and raise the driving age -- and I do -- I recognize that the U.S. would never embrace it.”This quotation sets a _______________ tone.A. optimisticB. authoritativeC. pessimisticD. arbitrary3B. Do you feel this line and tone weaken or strengthen the passage? Explain.4. What two things about young adults are being compared and contrasted in this text?___________________________________________________ & _________________________________________________5A. How does the author appeal to the audiences’ emotions (pathos)?5B. How does the author make himself / his argument sound credible (logos)?5C. How does the author support his argument with proof (ethos)?Article 2: “Why Do the British Armed Forces Still Allow 16-year-olds to Enlist?”1. What disagreement does this piece begin with? State the two sides._____________________________________________________ & ________________________________________________2. What three key points are given to support Ministry of Defence? A. B. C. 3. Explain how two words/phrases/sentences from the last paragraph that make it seem reliable or unreliable. A. B. Article 3: “Smoking? Combat? Wait Till 21, Young Recruits Say”1. Person InterviewedRelation to the TopicStance on Military AgeStance on Smoking AgeJustification(s)Nicole PhippsPatrick BrownRaul GonzalezDana Farmer Jr. 2. What does the word “ludicrous” mean and how is it used in the text? 3. What does “in loco parentis” mean and how is it used in the text?4A. How does the author appeal to the audiences’ emotions (pathos)?4B. How does the author make himself / his argument sound credible (logos)?4C. How does the author support his argument with proof (ethos)?5. Which article will be the most useful in your argument on the age of adulthood? Explain. ................
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