When should a person be treated as an adult? Nobody really knows. Generally in America you would say when they turn 18. Some countries, Saudi Arabia, enjoy keeping their the lines vague based on physical signs of puberty. Some twisted countries would even go as far to say 9 years old for females - talk about desperate men. This is known as the age of majority, the threshold of adulthood as recognized and declared in law or written in crayons by juveniles.

Age is an invalid measurement for adulthood. When a teen turns 18, nobody actually believes they've suddenly matured any differently from when they were 17. Chances are, you're more convinced they aren't because now they're legally allowed copulate! And everybody knows two kids who can barely take care of a dog don't stand a snowball's chance in hell with an authentic breathing baby. Age means nothing and the funny thing is we all know it. Anyone who comes up and uses their age as justification is immediately discredited because we all know age has nothing to do with accountability or credibility. Can you imagine arguments if this was not the case? "You're barely 18, and I'm 5 years older than you, which makes me right and you wrong." I haven't had such nostalgic and stimulating discussions since kindergarten with my old teacher Ms. Smith.

By definition: an adult is an individual who is fully capable of contributing to society productively and is responsible enough to make the correct decisions when presented with the choice. But that’s clearly not the case with most classifications today. Take the common acceptance of age for example. The concept is simple, all you have to do is turn 18 and voila; you suddenly change from a child to a fully functional adult. It's like a Pokemon evolution! If you can get your Pikachu to level 16 it magically transforms. No natural growth, no experience, no lessons learned. Blink and you're now accountable for your own failures as you are suddenly allowed to be thrown into the real world with no practical experience even though the only thing most of us can think about at that age are girls and/or boys (gender neutrality for all). We are not thinking about being a responsible and productive member of society. Heck, we're probably not even thinking - and here is why:

The prefrontal cortex, the front part of our brain that holds the region for decision making, is the last part of our brain to fully develop – and it doesn’t stop until its mid 20’s. It’s funny, out of everything we are capable of doing; from memorizing complexes, solving complex calculations and performing intricate movements, we can't make correct choices. We fixate knowledge of the world first and wisdom last. Wisdom, is the attribute we all need to make the right decision. We were created capable, there's no doubt about that. However it's also true that we were created to make mistakes.

Most of the population are still dependent on their parents to make it through their early 20’s both financially and emotionally. How could you possibly call them adults if they still need to be tucked in bed? The legal age to drink is 21, we already know they aren't responsible. Have you seen the mess they make out on the streets? What kind of an adult isn’t allowed to drink for 3 years? It’s like, “yup you’re an adult you are completely responsible for all your actions now and we think you have matured enough to make all the correct decision – except when it comes to drinking.” We already knew they weren’t accountable, but we just handed over the title like medals for participation. It makes you feel better, but it's worthless and it's empty.

Adulthood should not be a sudden barrier one breaks through because of a physical attribute. Rather it should be a slow transition of stages marked by achievements - benchmarks categorized by wisdom and shown through their actions or with a test. How else do you make sure they aren't still taking candy from strangers?

Just as grade's don't measure intelligence, age doesn't define maturity.