Rites of Passage

Rites of passage are merely ceremonial rituals that represent one’s crossing through different periods of human life or social status. Rites of Passage are important because they help to maintain social infrastructures within a cultural group. Their ritual practices often provide individuals with social and emotion support through transitions in life. Without them individuals would have to assert their new social statuses which can become problematic. A culture would then have boys asserting their manhood which can cause conflict with other older men with in that culture. It would be very difficult to differentiate social statuses without rituals and ceremonies. The stories “Sitting Quietly”, “Facing Mt. Kenya” and “The Sambia” are very interesting articles and in most cases Americans will find the stories/articles strange. These stories depict strange rituals which are rites of passages into adult hood for males and females. I found them quite disturbing but that would be the natural response of individuals who are not from these cultures. Rite of Passage easily relates to formal education. The process of completing a formal education causes individuals to go through a segregated stage, liminal stage and stage of aggregation. Here are some examples of what I am trying convey: Many students who attend universities leave home and spend countless days and nights of study which causes them to be disconnected with their families and friends. During the liminal stage students social statuses are ambiguous. Their experiences in school are transformative and are molding social identities. Once the have completed their education they are reintroduced to society. They are now recognized as scholars and individuals that stand amongst the crop. These individuals often go onto being successful and functional members of society. There degrees and accomplishments represent a certain status. Society recognizes these individuals as intellectuals. Sadly our society operates in that manner but in our country we have countless of individuals that have degrees but can not really demonstrate that they have really learned anything. Or we have individuals with degrees that still behave immaturely and lack the social skills to be effective members of society. Despite these issues formal education in itself is a rite of passage at least for many individuals in developed nations.