The Importance of a Coming of Age Rite of Passage for Youth Today

There comes a moment in the life of every youth where they leave Childhood behind, and step into that phase of development we call Adolescence, or the teen-age years, during which time they cultivate the capacities, knowledge and skills they will need to step powerfully into adulthood in our modern world.

This transition requires a true transformation of a person, because being a child and being a young adult require us to be, in some very important respects, entirely different kinds of people. The two largest themes tend to be moving from dependence to independence (always of course interdependent), and becoming a sexual being (puberty).

These necessary changes require young people to transform how they see themselves in the world, to tell a new story about who they are, how they want to be, and what they are contributing to the world. 

The power of the Coming of Age as a real, overt rite of passage experience for youth comes in large part from being dramatically and thoroughly separated from all of the surroundings that have held them and shaped them as a child: parents, siblings, friends, teachers, and even pets, rooms, toys, belongings.

They will find themselves suddenly within a circle of young people, guided by supportive adults, encountering a whole new world. That world constantly asks them “Who are you really?” They will try out their childhood answers, and often find that those don’t really work anymore. They will have to find new answers to some crucial questions: What are my strengths? What are my challenges? How can I contribute? What do I care about? Where do I want to grow? What do I value? What kind of person do I want to be?