Patterns of formal education in high school as rites de passage

Until recently the transition from adolescence to young adulthood has not been clearly delineated in North America. However, secondary education has come to formalize this transition in ways that exemplify the patterns of segregation, transition, and incorporation that make up Van Gennep's rites de passage. Adolescents, who are defined as socially immature, are segregated in high schools where they are formally socialized for the responsibilities of adult life (transition). During this period of formal socialization, adolescents are expected to remain at home, economically dependent upon and accountable to their parents. The high school graduation ceremony is a ritual that marks the incorporation of the graduates into young adulthood. This nearly universal graduation from high school for the middle class and much of the working class has come to mean that high school assumes the characteristics of age-grade rites de passage throughout much of society.