The ages 16, 18, and 21? What makes someone mature enough to do something?

[StealthBeast]

In my little google-studies, I've run into little logically-controdicted mentions... I'm talking to you Mr. Government

Where did they get these magic numbers out of? 16, 18, 21? Why not 15, 20, and 25?

Or better yet, how about when you give me ALL of the legal responsibilities of an adult at 18, you give me the rights as well.

That's often the problem with the relationship between parent's and their children: The parent gives the child responsibility without the coinciding rights, the child grows frustrated at his situation and becomes rebellious.

Interesting. Sort of how our restrictive government has angry, rebellious, drunk teens, whereas, when I went to Greece, with a legal drinking age of 14 that is barely enforced, I noticed they didn't have this problem. Kids drank responsibly, casually, at the dinner table, just like the adults. I believe this is because there's no appeal to it beyond what it is. Teens are drawn to the unknown, and to the rebellion of anything that annoys them, and to a teen, nothing's more unknown, annoyingly restrictive, and accessible as alchohol.

As far as I'm concerned, your right to vote should be dependant on your occupation. When you enter high-school, it's no longer JUST about baby-sitting you, it's about keeping your GPA high enough to go to college, to eventually become a working, productive citizen, and many of us work thereby get that hugeass tax-rape on our checks. Meanwhile we have homeless people who haven't seen as much as a campaign commercial with the right to vote. (And you know they're voting Obama. Ho-ho-ho-ho!! Oh yes! I said it!)


I dislike this whole interpretation of maturity exclusivly by age. Obviously it would be best for everyone's rights to be unlocked according to maturity, but because theres no way to create a test for that, I'd say.. Just give us the damn rights when we're 18. Banning alcohol from law-abiding (Uh oh! References!) citizens under the age of 21 will not stop rebellious juveniles from abusing alchohol.

In PA, at 16, you are responsible enough to operate a motor vehicle, but not responsible enough to smoke.

At 16, if you have a full-time job, you have the right to drop out of highschool or get your GED, settle into an appartment, and pay taxes, but you do not have the right to vote for the politicians who you pay them to.

At 18, you have the right to purchase a shotgun whether your parents like it or not, but you are not responsible enough to purchase a handgun without parental permission.

At 18, you are responsible enough to open-carry a firearm, but not enough to go down to the bar and have a drink.

At 17, with parental permission you have the right to join the military, and if you do, you might be sent to Iraq to die, before you even get the right to vote for the politicians who sent you there.


I imagine most of you guys can't sympathise with me the way you could when you were my age. But I'm starting to realise the level of responsibility I have. I'm no longer just going to school cause my mom makes me wake up every day to, now I seriously have goals. I need to develop my portfolio to get accepted into Drexel, I need to develop myself as a web designer in tech to shoot for a full-scholarship at the Art Institute.

I'm not just doing things because a grown-up told me anymore, I'm doing them to better myself as a productive individual for the future. Political matters are important to me, and affect me. Due to my age (17), I am going to miss the presidential election by like 10 days, and I'm going to have to live through that president's decisions without any say for the next four years, so I might as well not have the right to vote until I'm 22...

[normanvin]

I have often said that with age comes adult hood. Adulthood does not equate to maturity.
I have seen many 50 year old people pitch hissy fits because they could not get things their way.

[P-11 shooter]

I had a health teacher tell me the drinking age was 21 because up until then your liver is not developed enough to handle the alcohol.

I thought it was bullshit.

[General Geoff]

Chronological age does not always translate to maturity.


But unless you want the government to interview everyone with a shrink periodically to gauge their maturity level (and judge their maturity by their own possibly biased standards), age is gonna have to do as a legal cutoff.

[Posit]

Ha! I love it. You're experiencing the frustrations that every 17 year old has... just try to remember we've all been there before you, although we realize that's not an acceptable explanation to you. Are the age limitations you delineate arbitrary, whimsical, illogical? Possibly... they have simply evolved over time and have been shown to work reasonably well for the majority (not necessarily for the individual).

I like your last two paras; they show you are doing well at exactly what you are supposed to be doing at your age: maturing, testing the system, thinking for yourself.

Print your post, put it in an envelope, open it when you are 25... you'll be able to answer your own questions.

[D-FENS]

Hell, I wanted to quit smoking when I was 18 and quit drinking when I was 21. I did neither.

So, what makes someone mature enough to do something? Shit, I don't know. Let me ask the 12 year old OCing at Chuck-E-Cheese.

[Guns4Fun]

Wow, where to start. Had you not posted your age at 17, I would not have guessed you were that young. Your post did not strike me as a youngin and the way they can sometimes complain---so a big plus 1 for your maturity---rep sent.

I too agree that you should be able to drink at 18. If you are legally responsible for yourself at 18, and if you can die for your country, you should be able to drink.

I’m not sure where these age related “starting points” came from. But here is my take. Even at 18 years old many kids are still under their parents wing. Either they are still living at home or the parents are paying for their continued education. As a parent, as long as you are still living under my roof, and I am helping pay your way, you need to play by my rules. Not because I am the all knowing but because it is a common courtesy. I want to know where you’ll be and when you’ll be home. I do not want to sit up at night worrying because you are not home at your 1am curfew.

In most cases with age comes wisdom---not always but usually. This is because you have more life experience and have a larger bases to come to your own conclusions / decisions about life. For me, I consider someone an adult once they have left the nest and are living on their own. Up until that point, you are just riding on your parents shirt tails.

At 18 years old I was married--had a child--was in my own apartment--working full time and going to night school to get my degree (schooling paid by me). I too thought it was ridiculous that I could be in that situation, being completely responsible for myself and my own family but not be able to legally buy a beer. But before you know it you will have reached all your milestone years and will be able to make your own decisions in life for the next 60+ years. I completely understand how you feel---but it too shall pass.

I have to be honest here, when I was a teenager, I felt my dad was the dumbest person I knew and that he was controlling and didn’t know jack about life----well, it wasn’t until I got out on my own that I realized just how smart he was. I still to this day apologize to him for being a smart ass teenage know it all---and thank him for his excellent guidance and patience with me---even though I rarely listened to his advice. Again, it wasn’t until I got out on my own that his “way of life” started to make sense to me but to be honest, at the time, I did not realize just how much he was preparing me for the real world.

[Philbert]

There's no reason for the magic numbers. It is just the government's best effort at a one size fits all policy. Such a policy is imperfect and highly annoying for those on the wrong side of an age restriction. But they are there in the most part because experience has shown that the alternatives are worse. One thing you mentioned was a test for voting. This has been tried before, Google the history of literacy testing for voting rights in the US, and you'll soon see why we don't have them any longer.

[IV_Warrior]

I'm a bit past the age that it matters, to me personally, but I agree completely with the OP. If you're old enough at 18 to fight and die for this country, in my opinion you're old enough to buy a handgun and drink a beer. These laws need to get changed. Either someone's an adult at 18 or they're not. If they are, they should have all the same rights and privileges that any other adult has. If they're not, then they shouldn't have the responsibilities that an adult has until such time as they are an adult.

[er2006]

The original concept of reaching the age of majority was that the average person lived until age 40 so if you are half that age plus 1 you are 21 or the age of majority.

Today it is not uncommon for people to live until 60 so it shoud be 30 plus 1. or 31 to reach your age of majority.

Ed

change it to 31 for drinking, driving, having legal sex , etc .