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Lowering The Voting Age To 16 Analysis

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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

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