As students in a university setting, the majority of us speak to people who are older than we are on a fairly regular basis -- professors, advisors, our family, even strangers we make conversation with while waiting for a bus or standing in line at the bank.

Most of the time, our experiences with whom I will playfully refer to as our elders are positive, but every once in a while, we run into Captain Wisdom.

You all know this person -- you've met him or her many times in your lives. Captain Wisdom can be your professor, your counselor or even your relative. The Captain seems nice at first; the two of you are having a pleasant conversation about the election and you find yourself saying something to the effect of, "Ralph Nader doesn't get enough credit for his efforts. I think he's a stand-up candidate."

BAM! POW! KAZAAM!

Captain Wisdom appears from a cloud of smoke and exclaims, "Ha ha! What do you know about politics? You're just a kid! You'll know better when you're older."

So, you stand there like a puppy that just got its nose rubbed in piddle while Captain Wisdom proceeds to tell you why your opinion is completely wrong -- how you will have the right opinion once you've lived long enough to know what you're talking about.

The Captain will then prattle off an extensive list of all the other horrible things he or she thinks about people your age.

Generally it will be something about how kids today are lazy, uninformed, arrogant and disrespectful -- not at all like kids "in the good old days."

Perhaps the scariest thing about Captain Wisdom is the fact that you never know who he or she is until you express an opinion that doesn't coincide with his or hers. Politics, religion, the death penalty, foreign trade, the war in Iraq, etc., are all topics that people our age couldn't possibly understand because we're all still children in the eyes of Captain Wisdom.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty tired of people telling me that my life experiences don't amount to jack squat simply because I'm "only 21." I have done and seen a lot in my lifetime, and I refuse to believe that on some arbitrarily assigned birthday -- maybe my 30th birthday -- God Himself will hand me a big 'ole box of wisdom that suddenly makes my ideas valid.

Isn't that what Captain Wisdom tries to tell us young 'uns? That we are simply too young and too naïve to have any idea what we think? I don't buy it, but then again, maybe my youthful arrogance is shielding me from the "fact" that I am a clueless youth.

I think that as an up-and-coming generation, we need to nip this problem in the bud. We can't let people stifle our thoughts and ideas simply because they think we're too young to have them. We are a generation of bright, talented people, and we deserve to be listened to, not laughed at or brushed aside.

People tell me, "You'll understand when you're older," in order to belittle me and make me think that someday, I'll get my box 'o wisdom and finally understand the ways of the world. Most young people do understand, we're just demoralized into thinking otherwise because the Captain doesn't agree with our views.

I've also been told, "You think you know everything, but you'll realize as you get older that you don't." I have yet to meet a single person -- young or old -- who has made the statement, "I know everything." This makes me believe that whenever the Captain makes this accusation, he or she is merely speculating about what young people think they know. Having an opinion or an idea and standing behind it is not a proclamation of knowing everything.

These types of demoralization are the most powerful weapons in the Captain's arsenal. It's so much easier to tell young people that their views are wrong and invalid than to actually listen to them and have intellectual discussions with them. If you can convince someone to accept his or her inferiority and stop talking; why wouldn't you? It's much less challenging than intelligent discourse and requires less thought.

I don't speak on behalf of all young adults. Maybe some people my age sit in silent agreement that they won't know what they're talking about until they reach middle age.

I think everyone's ideas and opinions are valid -- no matter what their age.

So, how do we youngsters defeat Captain Wisdom's plot to quash our ideas? Don't back down. Calmly continue to state your thoughts and stand behind them. Everyone was young once, and most people remember that, so don't be afraid to ask your friendly, neighborhood "elders" for a little help, too.