Social Expectations for Teens

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Have you ever heard the story of ‘The Elephant and The Twig’? In India they train young elephants to not escape by tying them to a tree. The tree is so big that no matter how hard the baby elephant pulls and tugs it cannot break free. This develops what is known as ‘learned helplessness’ in the creature. When the elephant becomes fully grown, the owner ties a simple piece of twine attached to a small twig on the elephant's hind leg. Obviously, the elephant can easily snap the twine or pull the twig from ground, and yet the owner does not worry, fully confident that when morning comes he will find the animal exactly where he left him. And he does. How is it that the beast that can uproot trees can't suddenly break free from a twig? What is it about the piece of twine and the small branch that allows them to subdue all of the elephant’s power? After days of pondering, I came to the conclusion that it had nothing to do with the twine tied to the elephants leg, but everything to do with the invisible shackles around it's mind. My dispute is simple: The elephant symbolizes modern day teenagers, like myself, and the twig symbolizes the 21st century cliche expectations of adolescence. We so often believe that we are required to remain obedient and connected to the negative social expectations of our teenage society; however, in reality, we can just as easily rebel and break that barrier. Now when people think of teenagers, words like rebellion and attitude come to mind. Teens are expected to lack good manners. They’re expected to have pre-marital sex and experiment with drugs. They’re expected to push boundaries, break rules, and disobey authority. The sad thing is, is that a good percentage of teenagers do fall into these low-expectations. What most people don't realize, is that high school students have the most potential to impact our society than anybody

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