Should Kids Be Allowed To Vote In an Election?
Edward Wang
Before we skip ahead to the answer, let’s take a look at some other people’s opinions. This website is about why someone wants to give kids the right to be able to vote:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuagans/2012/04/20/its-time-to-give-children-the-vote/
I don’t know why but when I read the article it makes me really convinced, especially when it says, “But if you think about it, there is no reason why the minimum voting age is so high. Do children have human rights that need to be defended? Absolutely. Are children impacted by government policies? For sure. And are children forced to pay taxes (and remember this was a huge basis for the fight for American independence from Great Britain: ‘no taxation without representation’)? They sure are. These notions alone tell us that they need a voice.” Now, I did say it was very convincing but, before we say that kids should be allowed, let’s take a look at the opposing side.
http://www.answers.com/Q/Why_are_kids_not_allowed_to_vote
Let’s take a look at the answer, “Because if kids voted, they might just vote randomly, and that could get the wrong thing decided, or the wrong person elected, and that can lead to chaos.” I know what they mean:
Politician: If you vote for me, I will give you a chocolate.
Kid: OK, I will vote for you now!
Outcome: R.I.P Humans 2026 because that random politician was elected and built a hydrogen bomb and destroyed the world.
Fine, I know not every kid is like that but you get the idea right? Another question comes to mind: If you let some dumber (I am definitely going to get some angry knocks on my door for this) adults vote, what is the difference between that and letting kids that would be like the kid in the example above? Well, when I asked some people about this problem, they told me, “Well, I can’t be sure if there is a large amount of adults who are immature, but I can definitely say that there are more kids that would just not really care about the election.” I actually don’t agree with that because if you let smarter kids vote how much of a difference can there be? Today, we have TVs and satellite news going all around the globe 24/7. We have more technology than the past generation; I bet more of us kids understand politics than our parents did when they were small like us, and remember it seems like parents and adults are planning our future. We are the next generation of humans, we should be able to plan our future and our lives.
There you have it, my side on the story and others, why some people also want kids to have a vote and now you also have an answer for why kids are not allowed to vote. You saw only four people’s point of views (including the quote), but that may not be enough for the government to make the decision. But, who knows? Maybe when a lot of us get wiped out by the hydrogen bomb, we will change the law.
Michelle Zhou
Voting. One of the biggest things on the endless lists of what only adults can do. When it comes to politics, most adults don’t take us seriously, unless we say something that’s politically correct. There is a reason why they don’t take us seriously when it comes to voting. Generally, adults think we can’t make the right choices. We make many mistakes and there are a lot of things that we “don’t understand”. That seems unfair, but the truth is how many kids do you know can actually take part in mature activities? I know no one who can. Adults see us as not being able to handle the responsibility of choosing who to rule the nation, or even just a section of a town. We haven’t made enough mistakes to learn from, or lived long enough to learn things the bad way. In short, we’re not good enough to vote. Adults want to make sure that voting is a serious matter – no jokes. If we could vote, admit it, most of you out there would be like, “Whatever. Sure. I don’t care.” This is why we are not allowed to vote.
