Age Discrimination

Teenagers are always being told that they're too young to accomplish jobs, and that's just not true. Many teenagers are just as capable as their adult cohorts. Society patronizes children and teenagers; why, why, why?

"I'm little but I'm big; I'm small but I'm strong," writes a fourteen year old girl in a poem about her age. She goes on to talk about how everyone feels that she can't do it; how people assume that she is irresponsible because she's not eighteen years of age; how people reject her from volunteering, claiming that she's too young to do the job right. She doesn't understand how they can make assumptions about her without ever interviewing her. How can they?

She isn't the only one. Another girl, Fiona, 15, writes "Not all teens fit the stereotype they've been crushed into...Many of us are not a part of it, we've broken away..." You can read Fiona's essay at http://geocities.datacellar.net/~katskeep/age.html

Have you been wronged? Share your story; e-mail it to justahorse@geocities.com and it will be posted here. You do not have to give your name.