The moment a teenager steps into the Galleria, they are instantly viewed as a threat. The St. Louis Galleria is one of the many shopping centers nationwide that has implemented a “Parental Guidance Required” policy, which demands that teenagers under the age of 17 be accompanied by an adult after 3 p.m. on weekends.

The new rule allows security guards stationed at every entrance to repel teenagers or to kick them out after three o’clock, the mall curfew. This policy is inconvenient, distrustful and discriminatory.

The Galleria created the new policy following a series of scuffles between groups of teenagers. The Galleria did not report anyone being seriously hurt, but they did react by stepping up their security measures.

It seems unfair that every teenager in St. Louis should be punished when only a small group of people committed the infraction. Most CHS students would agree that the incidents at the Galleria poorly represent common teenage behavior.

If a group of adults broke into a fight, would it be fair for the Galleria to ban them after 3? If the trend continued, the only occupants of the Galleria would be a handful of mall-walking senior citizens and an army of listless security guards.

The new policy reinforces teenage stereotypes by suggesting that all teenagers are troublemakers or criminals. Refusing the business of people based on their age is as discriminatory as refusing someone based on the color of their skin.

By suggesting that all teens engage in violent behavior, the policy is setting a disappointingly low expectation for behavior. If the Galleria cannot trust teenagers, then why should teenagers feel any compulsion to show that they are worthy of trust?

Furthermore, it seems illogical to suggest that a 16-year-old who is responsible enough to drive somehow lacks the self-control to shop without supervision.

According to a new rule created this summer, unsupervised teens are not permitted to even enter the movie theatre after 5 o’clock..  Unaware of this, my friends and I attempted to buy tickets for a movie scheduled for 6:45.  Barely a minute had passed before a surly security guard approached us and told us to leave, as if our very presence was threatening.

Many adults and institutions have an insultingly low degree of trust for teenagers. Perhaps this is because they don’t give teens a chance to prove themselves.

Even though the Galleria has a legal right to refuse us, it does not mean that age discrimination is morally rectifiable.

The St. Louis Galleria’s new “Parental Guidance Required” policy shamelessly discriminates against teenagers and reinforces an unfair stereotype.  Their rules reflect the disintegration of trust in our society today.