TEXT D The period of adolescence,
i.e. , the person between childhood and adulthood, may be long or short,
depending on social expectations and on society’s definition as to what
constitute maturity and adulthood. In primitive societies adolescence is
frequently a relatively short period of time, while in industrial societies with
patterns of prolonged education coupled with laws against child labor, the
period of adolescence is much longer and may include most of the second decade
of one’s life. Furthermore, the length of the adolescent period and the
definition of adulthood status may change in a given society as social and
economic conditions change. Examples of this type of change are the
disappearance of the frontier in the latter part of the nineteenth century in
the United States, and more universally, the industrialization of an
agricultural society. In modern society, ceremonies for
adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance and
there no longer is agreement as to what constitutes initiation ceremonies.
Social ones have been replaced by a sequence of steps that lead to increased
recognition and social status. For example, grade school graduation, high school
graduation and college graduation constitute such a sequence, and while each
step implies certain behavioral changes and social recognition, the significance
of each depends on the socio-economic status and the educational ambition of the
individual. Ceremonies for adolescence have also been replaced by legal
definitions of status roles, fights, privileges and responsibilities. It is
during the nine years from the twelfth birthday to the twenty-first that the
protective and restrictive aspects of childhood and minor status are removed and
adult privileges and responsibilities are granted. The twelve-year-old is no
longer considered a child and has to pay full rare for train, airplane, theater
and movie tickets. Basically, the individual at this age loses childhood
privileges without gaining significant adult rights. At the age of sixteen the
adolescent is granted certain adult rights which increases his social status by
providing him with more freedom and choices. He now can obtain a driver’s
license; he can leave public schools; and he can work without the restrictions
of child labor laws. At the age of eighteen the law provides adult
responsibilities as well as rights; the young man can now be a soldier, but he
also can marry without parental permission. At the age of twenty-one the
individual obtains his full legal rights as an adult. He now can vote, he can
buy liquor, he can enter into financial contracts, and he is entitled to run for
public office. No additional basic rights are acquired as a function of age
alter majority status has been attained. None of these legal previsions
determine at what point adulthood has been reached but they do point to the
prolonged period of adolescence. Starting from 22, ______.
A.one will obtain more basic rights B.the older one becomes, the more basic rights he will have C.one won’t have more basic rights than when he is 21 D.one will enjoy more rights granted by society