the child and the "mature" adult

In reading both the Stauffer article this week and the Woodford, I must admit I am slightly disheartened by the view that we, as educators and “adults,” frequently have of students. In the Woodford, and I wished I had highlighted where I spotted this… regardless, on numerous occasions he referred to Dewey’s idea of creating a “mature” individual, or something to that affect. Also, in the Stauffer, she makes mention of current scholarship, in which many professionals see the compositional works of children to be futile, basic, and of little creative scope.
I suppose I am so frustrated with the fact that so many people, despite what we at WCC may think, still view children as empty vessels waiting to be filled. I would not be surprised if this thought even occurred to recent Westminster grads. The fact of the matter is: children are not empty vessels and piles of clay for us to mold. They are individuals with their own ideas and likes and dislikes. Certainly, children may be conditioned by society, but so can adults or anyone for that matter, at any time. I also believe there are many children that are more brilliant than some “adults.”
Which brings me to my next question, what qualifies a “mature adult”? Is it an age limit? Is it a certain salary? Is it a physical appearance? Is it the amount of knowledge one has obtained? Is it someone who has a driver’s license? Someone who doesn’t live with mom and dad? What makes an adult an adult? I think we, as college students, are currently in transition, but when you think about it, are we not acting in a very adult way right now? Which raises some more questions: are we just acting? Is that why we’re not considered to be adults yet, because we’re “acting”? And is there a difference between “acting adult” and “being adult”? Who’s to say when we’ve arrived? Maybe it’s on our 21 birthday, the first shot of tequila we have!
To drive the point home, one has to wonder, also, what is maturity, and how does one obtain it? According to Dewey, the goal of education is to cultivate “mature” individuals and ready them for society, but can one really teach someone to be mature, or is it something one has to learn on their own? Again, is there a difference between “acting mature” and “being mature”? Perhaps we all get so caught up in acting a certain way that is untrue to our young self that we trick ourselves into believing this ghost of a person, this mature self, is the best thing we have to offer our democracy and is the real “me.” God forbid a mature adult have energy and wear bright colors, and refuse to wear ties and skirts (not at the same time, but then again why not?!).
I feel as though you know you’re an adult when you wake up in the morning, waaay before you feel you should, get up, read the Wall Street Journal while eating a heaping bowl of bran flakes drowning in ultra low-fat, extra skim milk and sipping on black coffee (sweetened with one splenda… depending on the morning), grab your briefcase and mindlessly go to work, earn your paycheck, come home, watch CNN, check your emails, tidy the house, get ready for bed, go to bed before 11:00, and repeat. Sounds lame to me. I guess I just really have a strong opposition to teaching students to act mature and grown up when they are less than 20 years old. At the same time, I feel it is a huge disservice to the students to consider them children and kids and treat them as though they know nothing of the world. When push comes to shove, we all are living in the same world; we just have different views of it. None are wrong, but I feel like some are considered to be inferior compared to the “adult,” “mature,” cookie-cutter way. I think adults are the ones who need to step back and learn something from kids