Teenagers are at an awkward place in their lives — not children but not quite adults. They’re expected to make decisions as adults but simultaneously are treated like kids. Teachers still shield them from profanity and violence because they’re “just kids.”

However, these “kids” are at their last stop before true adulthood and need to be exposed to situations they will soon encounter. The Mentor editorial board initially began discussing whether high schoolers should be sheltered when they’re so close to being thrown into the “real world,” but in the discussion we began question what exactly the “real world” is.

A teenager can take four AP classes, have a job, balance their social and family life and still not be classified as living in the “real world.” At the same time school teachers avoid showing films that have any profanity, we aren’t encouraged to read literature that may have explicit context and our parents have to approve of health classes we take. Why should anyone get to censor what we’re exposed to?

Given, some high school students are immature, but it isn’t really their fault. They behave at the level they’re required to. If they aren’t treated as a mature and capable individual, they’ll never act like one.

Most teens have probably already been exposed the things adults strive to shield us from. When you attend a school with other kids your age, things are talked about. You hear about sex and drugs and learn various vulgar terms and their definition, but no teacher will dare address any such topic. If these things were talked about freely and addressed maturely in class, teens wouldn’t feel the need to experience and talk about these things in a destructive manner.

The adult influences in our lives need to treat us as equals as opposed to inferiors. Their goal should be to educate and prepare high schoolers for the life that is rushing at them at full speed. If we aren’t treated as adults we’ll have no idea how to act when we become adults.