[DrPhil]

Since we're talking about teenagers who are at the awkward stage in their childhood, it is important for people to not make "exceptions" in violation of their state laws. Giving people under the legal drinking age alcohol in a binge drinking culture and having sex and using "he/she is mature for his/her age" is problematic.

I went to middle school (and high school) with some students who had been in middle school (and high school) too darn long. They weren't in my classes because we had tracking (also known as "honors classes"). Some of them looked like they could be 25 year old men and women--smoking in the bathrooms and talking about sex, their children, or their abortions. If you saw them outside of middle school (or high school) you would think they were grown as hell. I know some of them were messing with grown adults outside of the school environment. Some of the adults may have thought these kids were grown. But I really think most of the adults knew these were teenagers once they talked to them and realized they had very little to talk about (for those who had relationships in which they actually talked about real stuff). Even a really mature teenager who seems "old for his/her age" says or does something that makes you say "yeah, you're a teenager." That is because most teenagers' lives are consumed with things that are different than most adults' lives. Even the teenagers who have "hard lives" (like some of the teens at my school) where they have to work to support their families, have children, have diseases, or anything else--are usually dealing with these "hard lives" through a teen lens and not an adult lens.