C.Holland Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 This being a youth activity, if you raise the age limit... You lose access to grants and funding for youth activities when you raise the age as it no longer becomes a youth activity. There is the potential to cause considerable harm to DCA with this. (C2 puts a cap on their membership of 25 years of age) You kill some of their options for members of recent age outs. You take away possibilities for younger members, by increasing the amount of time a person can spend in corps. Liability concerns raise exponentially when you add older people with younger people on tour. It has happened in all age corps. The bonus... You can get a larger abundance of higher level talent you did not have access to. Both physically, mentally, and of course musically. But the downside is again, you take away places for those 14 through 22. (birthday date pending) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HPUEuph Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) I think the age limit is fine as is. When I was marching (I can't believe it has been 8 years since I stepped off the field) I had wished the age limit was extended BUT it does make sense to keep it at 21/22. You're most likely graduating college around that time and you have to start looking for your niche in the workforce, there's little time to pursue drum corp AND work AND pay off college debt AND etc. I'd love to see the employer's face when you say you'll be gone all summer to march, haha. For myself, I graduated college with one year left of eligibility but I opted against my age out...which I regret to an extent, but there was no reason (for myself) to pay the $ to march when that could help alleviate some of my incurred student debt. Plus I needed something other than drum corp to put on my resume for employers and grad schools. Now about the age range...it reminds me of when I go to a bar or some event and there are 21 yr olds...I may be 28 but I can't deal with that crowd anymore, yet alone high school kids in a social setting. Just teaching them there is an obvious disconnect in mentality and I'd be probably more annoyed by being around teens while marching. All this being said, I think the two big elephants in the room are sex and alcohol. I know this stuff already happens on tours, but you're just asking for more of it once you start raising the age limit and that's not a road DCI or the corps want to go down.c Edited August 8, 2015 by HPUEuph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUARDLING Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) This being a youth activity, if you raise the age limit... You lose access to grants and funding for youth activities when you raise the age as it no longer becomes a youth activity. There is the potential to cause considerable harm to DCA with this. (C2 puts a cap on their membership of 25 years of age) You kill some of their options for members of recent age outs. You take away possibilities for younger members, by increasing the amount of time a person can spend in corps. Liability concerns raise exponentially when you add older people with younger people on tour. It has happened in all age corps. The bonus... You can get a larger abundance of higher level talent you did not have access to. Both physically, mentally, and of course musically. But the downside is again, you take away places for those 14 through 22. (birthday date pending) I dont think it would affect the 14 year olds IF in fact there are 14 year olds anymore. In smaller corps it wouldnt change that . Many WC corps are older and OC is a mix . I think it could be older for a few reasons 1. the reasons you mentioned. I also think youth goes to what number? Some say 25 some say 21 some could argue 18. 2.I think when the 21 age limit was in place people werent still in school at that point, getting married early etc etc. well, that has shifted quite a bit ( good for them..lol ) 3. WGI shifted the age and there was opposition at 1st, the sky didnt fall and produced some great participants over 21 4. Im not so sure it would hurt DCA either. There are always those who cant do DCI for a number of reasons and the older one gets the more reasons maybe thay cant spend that much of a time commitment . 5. I t might just produce some better staff in the future also with a few more years understaning the process.jmo Edited August 8, 2015 by GUARDLING Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 A common theme in the woodwinds discussion is that by having the instrumentation DCI corps currently do, the organization is excluding hundreds of people who would otherwise participate. But DCI excludes a substantially larger chunk of willing marchers as well, and no one ever seems to complain about it: young adults in the 22-26 age range. In an age where life expectancy is almost 10 years greater than it was during DCI's inception, and with people entering the workforce later and later, does it really make sense to keep the age cap at 21? Why is 21 the magic number to be considered a "youth activity"? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of opening up this previously excluded demographic for eligibility in DCI? "The UN, for statistical consistency across regions, defines 'youth', as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to other definitions by Member States." "The draft youth policy framework Pathways for Youth from 2013 defines youth as those under 25 years old in three stages: early adolescence (under 14), middle adolescence (15-17), late adolescence and early adulthood (18-24)." and if we were in Africa... "It can be based for instance on the definition given in the African Youth Charter where “youth” means “every person between the ages of 15 and 35 years”." So to push the age up to age 24....I don't think would be a real problem "selling" as a youth activity. Perhaps there could even be two divisions or classes with 14- 17 year old youth in division 1 and 18-24 year old youth in division 2...or this is just a bad idea all together and just leave things the way the are now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim K Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 This country is chock full of tens of thousands of college grads with big college bills living in their parents basement and With FAR bigger bills to pay back than the DCI participation bills. yes, but do they expect Mom and Dad to cook and clean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 "The UN, for statistical consistency across regions, defines 'youth', as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years, without prejudice to other definitions by Member States." "The draft youth policy framework Pathways for Youth from 2013 defines youth as those under 25 years old in three stages: early adolescence (under 14), middle adolescence (15-17), late adolescence and early adulthood (18-24)." and if we were in Africa... "It can be based for instance on the definition given in the African Youth Charter where “youth” means “every person between the ages of 15 and 35 years”." So to push the age up to age 24....I don't think would be a real problem "selling" as a youth activity. Perhaps there could even be two divisions or classes with 14- 17 year old youth in division 1 and 18-24 year old youth in division 2...or this is just a bad idea all together and just leave things the way the are now... It's a stretch now considering one is a legal adult in the U.S. at the age of 18. Pushing the age limit might very well give cause for those offering funding, grants, etc. to the activity to reconsider, inasmuch would they give to organizations of mostly young adults...or to Boy's and Girl's Clubs, etc, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 It's a stretch now considering one is a legal adult in the U.S. at the age of 18. Pushing the age limit might very well give cause for those offering funding, grants, etc. to the activity to reconsider, inasmuch would they give to organizations of mostly young adults...or to Boy's and Girl's Clubs, etc, etc. While a said that I don't think it would be a problem pushing upwards...I am actually in probably a minority and in favor of LOWERING the age limit to 19. I know this would be very unpopular, so I didn't even offer it up as a suggestion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totaleefree Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 (edited) I think the current limit is OK for the main point of keeping it a youth activity. That makes it much easier to get donations. However I think that now the government allows people to remain as dependents up to age 26 for insurance. So maybe today 26 and under could be considered youth. I have no idea how the age of 26 was determined for that by the government and insurance industry. However that could conceivably be a guideline. Edited August 8, 2015 by totaleefree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerriTroop Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 DCA is a different environment than DCI; a large-scale national tour presents a completely different social environment than the weekend-only DCA stuff does. Not that I would expect anything to happen in either circuit, but, really . . .DCI would become a difficult sell for a "youth activity" (as its charter defines it) with 26 year old folks there. That's what I think is the real issue. DCI, as a not for profit youth organization, would struggle to keep defining itself as such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CQuinn Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 Nope - 21 is old enough. I do want to commend you on resurrecting a 5 year old thread. Some folks here blow a gasket when that happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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