Summary: In the article “Why We Should Lower the Voting Age to 16.” by Lawrence Stein-berg, the author suggests that teenagers at the age of sixteen and up should have the same voting rights as legal adults. Steinberg’s main argument is that teenagers pos-sess “cold cognitive abilities” which allow adolescents to “gather and process infor-mation, weigh pros and cons, reason logically with facts and take time before making a decision.” Steinberg also addresses that humans generally do not fully develop until the age of 22 and do not possess “hot cognitive abilities” which he says “Hot cognitive abilities are those we rely on to make good decisions when we are emotionally aroused, in groups or in a hurry.” Lawrence Steinberg says that these cognitive abilities are backed by “neuroscientific findings”. The authors secondary argument is that there are several other countries that allow people …show more content…
Your article does not contain any references to your suggestion that is allegedly “backed by neuroscientist findings”, and significantly re-duces the validity of the argument you are making. In the paragraph in which you stated that the age to purchase and own a firearm legally should be raised to 21, your logic does not seem to make sense to me. You suggest that teenagers do not possess “hot cognitive abilities” since their brain is not fully developed, and “cannot make decisions when emotional aroused, in groups, or and in a hurry.” For one, going through the legal process to purchase a firearm is not a quick process, it is also not something that you would do in group. Even if you were making this decision emotionally, the process to purchase a firearm takes longer than 30 days and would give you more than enough time to re-think your
British dramatist Shakespeare once said that there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. Through the ages, controversies about voting age have not quieted down, and there are more and more different opinions about voting age like it should increase to 21, or it should decrease to 17 or 16, even 13. Like a coin has two sides, each opinion has both advantages and disadvantages. In my opinion, I prefer the voting age to be 18 in the United States. Teenagers who are 18 years old are independent enough to make their own decisions, and they should have the vote right as other adults do.
The court said that because of their youth, their brains are less developed, they are more impulsive, more subject to peer pressure and less able to see the consequences of their actions. Researchers have started to look into the development of the brain from the ages of 3 to 20 years old. Brain research by Thompson and others suggests that teenagers are unformed, less mature and less resistant to peer pressure than adults are. According to Thompson’s research, “gray matter, which brain researchers believe supports all our thinking and emotions, is purged at a rate of 1 percent to 2 percent a year” (89). He also states that, “these frontal lobes, which inhibit our violent passions, rash actions, and regulate our emotions, are vastly immature throughout the teenage years” (89). Teens do know what they have done and they are capable of understanding right from wrong but their brains aren’t developed enough to make fully mature decisions.
Lastly, more responsibility should be put on the adults who legally own a firearm, in order to keep weapons out of the hands of a teen. By making them inaccessible and unloaded, teens will have a much harder time getting their hands on weapons that have potential to harm them, stopping future gun crimes against teens in its tracks. Guns are not the only reason teenagers are being affected in negative ways, many other factors that are influencing teenagers in America. American’s need to open their eyes and realize that guns should not be used as a scapegoat, the actions of a person does the real harm.
The 26th amendment was also important because it lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 years of age. There was a long debate going on about the age during World War II when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and during the Vietnam War. The debate was over having men being drafted at a young age and not being able to vote. In 1943, Georgia was the first to lower voting age to 18. Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly voted for this law in 1945. Match 10, 1971, the U.S. senate voted unanimously in favor and by March 23 the states the states ratified it and President Richard M. Nixon signed it into law in July of that
According to a source at Lawcenter.giffords.orga; “18 year olds account for a disproportionate percentage of arrests for homicide and violent crimes”. Even though 18 year olds are legally an adult they are still teenagers who don’t know much from what’s to come in the world. In my experience an average of Americans are killed with guns each year by young adults. It’s all I see in the news whenever there is a shooting anywhere in the word. By restricting the age of buying a gun this can solve a quarter of the violence happening now. Remember all the lives that has been lost over the years by a mass shooting caused by young adults who don’t know what there doing when they pull that trigger and take a
Federal laws in the United States allow for an eighteen year old to legally purchase a long gun in a licensed area and for a twenty one year old to purchase a handgun at a licensed area. At the age of eighteen, front lobes are still developing. The frontal lobe of the brain is the area of the brain that is responsible for making good decisions. Studies showed that 18- to 20- year-olds are the most likely to commit homicides. To
The amarican voter age requirment. This issue has been raised due to the lower voter turnout of younger americans over the past few decades, and both sides of the argument have some valid points. One side supports incressing the size of the voter pool for that age group, while the other suggests that incressing the size of the younger voter pool would be counter productive. I would have to agree with both sides of the argument, however I feel that changes should be implimented in stages.
They have reported the brain doesn’t reach full maturity until age 25. This portion of the brain regulates impulse control. This single fact may account for why guns are so lethal when they are in the hands of young people. When you consider the fact that many of the deaths of children by children are preventable by simply raising the legal age for gun possession and ownership to 25, then it doesn’t make sense not to consider this. While no rational human being wants their brain on drugs, no rational human being wants a gun in the hands of an immature brain. Please join me in letting your congressmen, congresswomen, and senators know that if Avis won’t rent you a car until the age of 25, the government shouldn’t allow you to own or possess a
In the article, “Takoma Park 16-year-old savors his history making moment at the polls”, by Annys Shin, it is said that Ben Miller a 16-year-old boy walked into the toll booth at Takoma Park Community Center and was planned to do something about the fact that 16-year-olds cannot vote in the election. This brings up an interesting argument of whether or not 16 and 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote. People will argue that 16 and 17-year-olds do not know what they are doing or just have a lack of interest and that is a reason why some say no to letting them vote but others say that it could mean the difference in the election.
Sixteen year olds can drive a car, work jobs, and pay taxes, but they are not able
In her article, “Takoma Park 16-year-old savors his history making moment at the poll,” Annys Shin explains into debt of the issue of whether or not 16 and 17-year old citizens should be allowed to vote. I believe that 16 and 17-year olds should be allowed to vote because they are affected by many of the political issues that are being debated on today.
I agree that the voting age should be lowerd to the age of 16.Simply because they do have mature 16 year olds.To me it's like the passage says "There is nothing magical about the age 18." In my opinion ,if they are allowing 16 year olds to complete high early, that shows that they have the brains to know who to vote for obviously. I've seen most 16 year olds in this generation willing to want to vote than the older generation. So I think the age should be lowerd to those 16 year olds whom have completed high school though. If many countries have already done so, then I think this is the one time America should also follow.I think the turnout would be more higher if the age was lowered.Another thing I agree with from the passage is that "Lowering
dominance of religion in states changed women’s views from conservative to more liberal, because states that lowered their religious values faster saw changes in women’s voting behaviors move to the left side much faster than those that took longer (Emmenegger and Manow, 2014).
American youth, the demographic most important to America’s future, are often excluded from political processes and omitted from election ballots in just about every way. It is my mission as a Junior Statesman and a high school student to break this substandard negative trend, which tarnishes American democracy, by encouraging youth to become more politically active.
US society is made up of dozens of rules for kids and teens, providing age limits for a long list of activities, including drinking alcohol and driving a car. The voting age is one of these age limits, and has been a topic of debate for many years. The anonymous author(s) from The Economist believe that lowering the voting age to 16 would be beneficial in increasing the low percentage of under-25 voters, as well as boosting political activity throughout their lives. They attempt to convince the readers of The Economist that the voting age should be lowered, using elevated diction, a rhetorical question, and facts to back up their claims, creating an overall scholarly tone.