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engpunk77's review against another edition
4.0
One of my students signed this out of the library, and I thought I'd check it out myself. It was published in 1997 but still useful; I'm definitely buying the 2011 version, which should be just as good but with added content about social media, privacy rights, cyber-bullying, body art etc. The format of the book was perfect for teens and tweens who want to know about things like emancipation, their teacher's rights to discipline them, mandatory drug testing, when they can drop out of school, and what will happen if their parents get divorced. While the book only in some cases gives a state-by-state chart (like which states allow corporal punishment, the legal drop-out age per state, etc.) it provides teens with enough information to do an internet search to find those law variances for their own state. For example, I was surprised to find out that some states grant step-parent visitation rights, and had I been a teen with a beloved step-parent whom I was told I could never see again, I'd have felt empowered to look into this in my state.
Almost all of the topics would have interested me as an incorrigible and self-entitled teen, and it would have humbled me a bit. It turns out, your parent has total authority about what religion they make you practice (yes, you DO have to go to church if your parents tell you to), and you really DO have to follow your parent's "excessive" rules as long as they are not in violation of the laws spelled out by the book. Turns out, my mother was not out of line; I was. Go figure.
I'd recommend this to students who are constantly feeling entitled to privileges assumed to be rights, students who feel powerless in a system out to get them, and students who have found themselves in the juvenile legal system (there's a great chapter that fully explains what will happen to them, all of the terminology, etc.) Can't wait to get the new one!
Almost all of the topics would have interested me as an incorrigible and self-entitled teen, and it would have humbled me a bit. It turns out, your parent has total authority about what religion they make you practice (yes, you DO have to go to church if your parents tell you to), and you really DO have to follow your parent's "excessive" rules as long as they are not in violation of the laws spelled out by the book. Turns out, my mother was not out of line; I was. Go figure.
I'd recommend this to students who are constantly feeling entitled to privileges assumed to be rights, students who feel powerless in a system out to get them, and students who have found themselves in the juvenile legal system (there's a great chapter that fully explains what will happen to them, all of the terminology, etc.) Can't wait to get the new one!
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