If you’re a teenager in Iowa, it probably looks as if the Iowa Legislature is trying to steal your adolescence. Various bills to change some of the rights and privileges of young people are proposing nothing that drastic, but we’re guessing many adolescents still would find it more palatable if their parents cut their access to MTV with a program-blocking V-chip.

For years, young Iowans have been able to drive whenever they want, wherever they want as soon as the Iowa Department of Transportation issues them a driver’s license. They’ve been able to quit school at 16, and they’ve enjoyed long summer vacations.

It may be time for that to change. Iowa needs to get serious about reclaiming its position as the nation’s leader in education, and raising teacher pay alone won’t accomplish that. Kids need to be in school longer each day and for more days each year. The nine-month school calendar is an outdated relic of Iowa’s agrarian past, when children were needed at home in the summer to work on the farm. That’s still the case in some rural parts of the state, but we also know that if our youths are going to compete in a global economy, they need to become more proficient in math, science and other subjects.

The bigger issue for young people may be graduated driver’s licenses that would effectively “ground” them from nighttime driving. Those of us in adult suits fondly remember the rites of passage celebrated in our own youths and, more painfully, the number of students who didn’t make it to Graduation Day because they were killed in automobile accidents caused by their recklessness or inexperience. If it’s any consolation to young people, we never thought death would come early to our best friends, either.

At the same time, if state laws are adjusted to reduce their privileges, legislators ought to also look at laws allowing juveniles to be charged as adults in criminal court and allowing juvenile offenders’ names to be made public. Fair is fair.