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Kids will be kids, except when we suddenly judge them as adults Kids will be kids, except when we suddenly judge them as adults
(5 months later)
An 18-year-old can vote for the president of the United States, but he can't order a beer. An eight year-old can't buy firecrackers, but she can pack her own .22. A 13 year-old can't get into an R-rated movie, but can be tried as an adult in criminal court.An 18-year-old can vote for the president of the United States, but he can't order a beer. An eight year-old can't buy firecrackers, but she can pack her own .22. A 13 year-old can't get into an R-rated movie, but can be tried as an adult in criminal court.
In America, we're clearly confused about childhood.In America, we're clearly confused about childhood.
On 1 May, President Barack Obama's Justice Department announced it would challenge a federal judge's ruling that Plan B, the "morning after" pill, should be available to girls of any age, without a prescription, without having to ask the pharmacist to fetch it from behind the counter. When she overruled the Food and Drug Administration's clinical experts in 2011, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius insisted on 17 as the age a girl should be to get emergency contraception without a prescription. Now she and the president say they'll compromise on 15.On 1 May, President Barack Obama's Justice Department announced it would challenge a federal judge's ruling that Plan B, the "morning after" pill, should be available to girls of any age, without a prescription, without having to ask the pharmacist to fetch it from behind the counter. When she overruled the Food and Drug Administration's clinical experts in 2011, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius insisted on 17 as the age a girl should be to get emergency contraception without a prescription. Now she and the president say they'll compromise on 15.
The right howled in predictable fashion, the Catholic Church denouncing Plan B as an abortifacient, the Family Research Council arguing for the recriminalization of contraception, and columnist Kathleen Parker gasping:The right howled in predictable fashion, the Catholic Church denouncing Plan B as an abortifacient, the Family Research Council arguing for the recriminalization of contraception, and columnist Kathleen Parker gasping:
"What about the right of parents to protect their children? A 15-year-old can't get Tylenol at school without parental permission, but we have no hesitation about children taking a far more serious drug without oversight?""What about the right of parents to protect their children? A 15-year-old can't get Tylenol at school without parental permission, but we have no hesitation about children taking a far more serious drug without oversight?"
Actually, Tylenol is a much more "serious" drug than Plan B, as the New England Journal of Medicine points out:Actually, Tylenol is a much more "serious" drug than Plan B, as the New England Journal of Medicine points out:
"A 12-year-old can purchase a lethal dose of acetaminophen in any pharmacy for about $11, no questions asked. The only documented adverse effects of a $50 dose of levonorgestrel are nausea and delay of menses by several days. Any objective review makes it clear that Plan B is more dangerous to politicians than to adolescent girls.""A 12-year-old can purchase a lethal dose of acetaminophen in any pharmacy for about $11, no questions asked. The only documented adverse effects of a $50 dose of levonorgestrel are nausea and delay of menses by several days. Any objective review makes it clear that Plan B is more dangerous to politicians than to adolescent girls."
But progressives weren't happy, either. Obama was supposed to be the guy who based decisions on science, not emotion, the guy who gave a tub-thumping speech at Planned Parenthood's recent conference, vowing to support their work – more than a third of which is providing contraceptives. Yet when it came to Plan B, he invoked his own daughters, saying he wasn't comfortable with young girls buying it in a drugstore "alongside bubble gum or batteries". Never mind that teenaged girls are precisely the population most in need of an accessible form of birth control. They're just children, for God's sake.But progressives weren't happy, either. Obama was supposed to be the guy who based decisions on science, not emotion, the guy who gave a tub-thumping speech at Planned Parenthood's recent conference, vowing to support their work – more than a third of which is providing contraceptives. Yet when it came to Plan B, he invoked his own daughters, saying he wasn't comfortable with young girls buying it in a drugstore "alongside bubble gum or batteries". Never mind that teenaged girls are precisely the population most in need of an accessible form of birth control. They're just children, for God's sake.
Unless they're not. Sixteen year-old Florida student Kiera Wilmot has been charged with two felonies: "possession/discharge of a weapon" and "discharging a destructive device". The state wants to try her as an adult. If convicted, she could be sent to prison.Unless they're not. Sixteen year-old Florida student Kiera Wilmot has been charged with two felonies: "possession/discharge of a weapon" and "discharging a destructive device". The state wants to try her as an adult. If convicted, she could be sent to prison.
The "weapon"-cum-"destructive device" was actually a science experiment. Kiera, reportedly an inquisitive sort with good grades and no disciplinary issues, heard that hydrochloric acid plus aluminum produces a reaction. On 22 April, she went into a field behind Bartow High School and mixed toilet bowl cleaner with balls of foil in an eight-ounce plastic water bottle. The lid popped off and smoke came out. No one was hurt, no property damaged, and she immediately owned up to her infraction. Still, the cops hauled her off and the school expelled her.The "weapon"-cum-"destructive device" was actually a science experiment. Kiera, reportedly an inquisitive sort with good grades and no disciplinary issues, heard that hydrochloric acid plus aluminum produces a reaction. On 22 April, she went into a field behind Bartow High School and mixed toilet bowl cleaner with balls of foil in an eight-ounce plastic water bottle. The lid popped off and smoke came out. No one was hurt, no property damaged, and she immediately owned up to her infraction. Still, the cops hauled her off and the school expelled her.
This school is one of many in America with a policy of "zero tolerance" towards, well, anything kid-like a kid might do. An eight year-old in Alton, Illinois was handcuffed and shackled and taken off to juvenile detention for throwing a tantrum at school earlier this year. School officials across the country have called the police on kids for such heinous crimes as farting, belching, possession of an aspirin tablet, and doodling on a desk.This school is one of many in America with a policy of "zero tolerance" towards, well, anything kid-like a kid might do. An eight year-old in Alton, Illinois was handcuffed and shackled and taken off to juvenile detention for throwing a tantrum at school earlier this year. School officials across the country have called the police on kids for such heinous crimes as farting, belching, possession of an aspirin tablet, and doodling on a desk.
If, instead of performing freelance chemistry, Kiera Wilmot had tried to buy Plan B, she'd have merely been denied, not busted. The law says she's a child who must be steered away from illicit use of her own body. In committing what the Polk County School Board called a "serious breach of conduct", she became a willful malefactor deserving not protection, but punishment. As the school board spokeslady said primly, "there are consequences to actions".

Twenty-first century America is stuck between two visions of childhood: the sentimental one where kids come wrapped in Wordsworthian intimations of immortality, innocents who must be guarded from the wicked ways of the world, and the Puritan one which assures us that kids are just as nasty as anyone else. Perhaps nastier. The Rev Benjamin Wadsworth, president of Harvard, author of The Well-Ordered Family (published in 1712), said children's "hearts are naturally a nest, root, fountain of sin and wickedness".

Most parents do not think their rugrats are evil – not most of the time, anyway. But our repressed Calvinist unconscious keeps coming back, telling us that even babies are sunk in Original Sin. We punish because we love – or something like that. As Cotton Mather, the famous Puritan Divine, put it, "better whipped than damned". Or, to put it in contemporary terms, "zero tolerance".		If, instead of performing freelance chemistry, Kiera Wilmot had tried to buy Plan B, she'd have merely been denied, not busted. The law says she's a child who must be steered away from illicit use of her own body. In committing what the Polk County School Board called a "serious breach of conduct", she became a willful malefactor deserving not protection, but punishment. As the school board spokeslady said primly, "there are consequences to actions".

Twenty-first century America is stuck between two visions of childhood: the sentimental one where kids come wrapped in Wordsworthian intimations of immortality, innocents who must be guarded from the wicked ways of the world, and the Puritan one which assures us that kids are just as nasty as anyone else. Perhaps nastier. The Rev Benjamin Wadsworth, president of Harvard, author of The Well-Ordered Family (published in 1712), said children's "hearts are naturally a nest, root, fountain of sin and wickedness".

Most parents do not think their rugrats are evil – not most of the time, anyway. But our repressed Calvinist unconscious keeps coming back, telling us that even babies are sunk in Original Sin. We punish because we love – or something like that. As Cotton Mather, the famous Puritan Divine, put it, "better whipped than damned". Or, to put it in contemporary terms, "zero tolerance".
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