Should children be allowed the vote?
During history there has been a great amount of prejudice! For instance racism - for a long time racism was apart of life, white people used to have black people as slaves, they ware taken from their homes, comunities and children. Despite this horror white people didn't care! But back then it was just life! Also women less than one hundred years ago were "lesser people" than men just because the bible says that they were just here to keep the men company and to help populate the Earth! But back then it was just life! But now, despite all the things that have happend to humanity to do with pejudice it still goes on. within OUR comunities, on OUR streets to US the FUTURE of Britan! Start the ball rolling to help to get teenagers (13+) the vote.
Yes
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No
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I choose to play both sides! Multi-view now in text format: 1.) Democratic Technocracy viewpoint. (if you are one correct me if wrong) They should be able to vote provided they show their knowledgeable of the process/issues (Applies to everyone). It matters not their physical characteristics as long as they know what they are doing! 2.) Youth rights viewpoint. (correct if I get it wrong again... do you know what? I'm just going to write a method for this private Class CreateDebate { public void correctMe() { Console.print("Correct me If i'm wrong"); } } THERE! (C# by the way) Anyways, it is an issue in representative systems if you can't have a say in who represents your group! It also makes the youth feel as if they have no say and makes them non-interested in politics, contributing to the mess which 'democracy' is in now! I don't know what else to add to this one, so moving on... 3.) True Democratic view. (CreateDebate.correctMe()) It wreaks a democratic nation by not allowing everyone to vote! Without everyone having a say you could potentially cause a bunch of laws oppressing youth if you don't let them get involved! Also it would get politicians more interested in helping the youth of the nation, and creating laws to please such a large portion of the population that can now vote! So rather than ignoring what the potential majority wants, it can become a true democracy! Side: yes
Wait a minute! Foreach(Response in list) { CreateDebate.correctMe(); } 1.) That undermines democracy for those who don't know a thing about politics... 2.) That's what student politics are for, besides no one is really interested in politics... 3.) That leads to this and this directed at youth! Who wants a free car? Then vote for me so that you can have this too! See right there, you have 15-50% of the nation with you! Side: No
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Yes. But only if we pass a certain test saying we are more mature to vote for someone who cares about the issues we want to change. I am in grade 7 and I strongly think that most of the kids in my class (the A.P) are able and mature enough to vote. If each at voting time anyone who wants to vote has to take a quiz. If you think about it not a lot of adults are more mature. Most adults may just vote for someone because their mustache. Adults do not take the time to stop and think about it. They watch the commercials and think they know all. They do not though. Children would take this as a privilege, not a right. We would be happy to vote and be part of the country, province and city. Not all children are mature yes, but most are. You just have to give us a chance. Side: yes
In my opinion we should because, why should we have to sit back and watch our future evolve into whatever adults want? We are the next generation, we should have a say in what goes on in our lives. Despite this I don't think that pre-teens should get the vote due to their mental immaturity. Side: yes
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I find it somewhat ironic that you'd prohibit preteens from voting because of their mental immaturity, but argue that the voting age should be reduced to 13 (13+). Does something magical happen between 12 and 13 that skyrockets mental maturity, such that a 13 year would make more informed decisions, about a world they are largely ignorant of ,than a 12 year-old? Side: No
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i agree that we are the future and we should have a say on what we want but do 13 year olds really know what they want? now i know someone will disagree but think about this first, how many people had their ides be the same from when they were 13 to adulthood? i also feel that their should a time limit on some of the policies made for example the government should never ban something until it has to be revoted on. if obama banned guns let it last untill he leaves office. then revoke the ban. Side: No
i think it is extreally for kids to vote. first off its goign to be the outcome of our future if we vote. we have to vote so we can have the decsion we want for our futrue.peploe may think that kids are immature to vote but its their desion. KIDS NEED TO BE PART OF ACTIVTIES IN THE COUNRTY ADLUTS SHOULDENT BE THE ONLY ONES Side: yes
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well my idea was already thought of by megan up above here... but I was thinking the same thing as a test to show how much about politics we know, like what the types of government issues, what are the political issues are now, and how much we know about the politics of our country before they vote. as long as anyone passes this test they earn the right to vote, and yeah sure teens and kids might not be as mature as most adults, there are still a lot of adults out there that are pretty stupid. and I honestly think there are a lot of kids mature enough to have a say I don't think it would make too much of a difference. Side: yes
LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! we are the future the new people the ones that will and are running the human race wich means LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! we are still the future the new ones so LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! LET US VOTE!!! Side: Yes
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I can't really come up with a good reason why they shouldn't be able to, though I have to admit that the idea does bother me; that's just my own bias. Objectively, I've seen little to convince me that the average adult has a better grasp of politics and our government than children do. Working for a school, I've noted that 'tweens' and teenagers seem to actually have a slightly better grasp of much of this than many adults I know do; this is anecdotal, admittedly, and doesn't constitute a statistically significant sampling of either, and is probably explainable simply by how recently they've studied the structure of our government in schools, but those are my observations. It's really strange, to be honest. I don't run into cases like this often, where I can actually see where my own biases are in conflict with my observations. I'll have to think about this. The biggest argument against this seems to be voter ignorance, but that seems to be a problem regardless of the age group in question. I've proposed in the past that a test be administered before voting, asking general questions about the platforms that the candidates are running on- an informed voter should be able to identify where the politicians stand on key issues, after all. I could see the age limitation removed altogether and voting privileges being allowed to every individual able to complete the test to a certain standard. But there are huge problems with this as well, namely the fact that the test itself could be engineered to be biased for or against a particular candidate. I think I may actually start a debate just for this. Side: Yes
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yes because kids are smart anouugh to my link is wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Side: Yes
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I choose to play both sides! Multi-view now in text format: 1.) Democratic Technocracy viewpoint. (if you are one correct me if wrong) They should be able to vote provided they show their knowledgeable of the process/issues (Applies to everyone). It matters not their physical characteristics as long as they know what they are doing! 2.) Youth rights viewpoint. (correct if I get it wrong again... do you know what? I'm just going to write a method for this private Class CreateDebate { public void correctMe() { Console.print("Correct me If i'm wrong"); } } THERE! (C# by the way) Anyways, it is an issue in representative systems if you can't have a say in who represents your group! It also makes the youth feel as if they have no say and makes them non-interested in politics, contributing to the mess which 'democracy' is in now! I don't know what else to add to this one, so moving on... 3.) True Democratic view. (CreateDebate.correctMe()) It wreaks a democratic nation by not allowing everyone to vote! Without everyone having a say you could potentially cause a bunch of laws oppressing youth if you don't let them get involved! Also it would get politicians more interested in helping the youth of the nation, and creating laws to please such a large portion of the population that can now vote! So rather than ignoring what the potential majority wants, it can become a true democracy! 6 years ago Side: yes \ Yes. But only if we pass a certain test saying we are more mature to vote for someone who cares about the issues we want to change. I am in grade 7 and I strongly think that most of the kids in my class (the A.P) are able and mature enough to vote. If each at voting time anyone who wants to vote has to take a quiz. If you think about it not a lot of adults are more mature. Most adults may just vote for someone because their mustache. Adults do not take the time to stop and think about it. They watch the commercials and think they know all. They do not though. Children would take this as a privilege, not a right. We would be happy to vote and be part of the country, province and city. Not all children are mature yes, but most are. You just have to give us a chance. Side: Yes
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Well, if you think about it. adults are proven to actually rush through voting. They don't care so they just move on with there lives, cross of a name done deal. With kids they stop and listen. What candidate ever stopped to say, maybe we could build this school a better park, or maybe extend the skate park? Maybe these issues are "childish" but the tourists would notice. "Oh look what a nice skatepark?" Yeah. It's possible. Side: yes
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"Could you imagine the voting percentage and how much it would go up?" Younger people notoriously go to the polls less than another other age group unless you give free hand-outs were they are still the smallest group yet the numbers don't look so bad. Free T-shirts double the young turn-out. Side: No
Children should not be allowed to vote. They usually don't listen to everything that is said, so if they hear one thing they like from the candidate they will probably vote for them. It would also be more of a popularity contest like with Obama and Mccain. I'm not being racist but part of the reason Obama was voted in was because a lot of people wanted to see a black man as the president of the united states and the ones who thought Mccain would have been a better president might have voted for Obama too so people did not say they were racist. Side: No
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well what if there is a man(lets say about 30 years old) who is unmarried and gets drunk everynight doing nothing but watching television and eating fast food all day, do you think that he will also know about politics or be supportive of any one candidate? don't you think that he will most likely just randomly choose and vote for any candidate? Side: Yes
Children aren't mature enough to understand the significance of voting for those competent enough to secure their futures. They don't understand current issues, and they are definitely more vulnerable and more inclined to vote for someone based on the lies candidates tell rather than on the facts they are presented with. Side: No
Although I'm a kid, I don't think kids should vote. They are not very interested in politics and don't care for much for the issues. I'd taken a poll in my classes to see who'd vote for who and these were the average responses. Romney- Give him a chance. Romney- I don't know Obama- he's black Obama- I like him So, no I believe that most kids don't care much about politics and should not be allowed to vote. Side: No
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children should also not get the vote beause they would be drawn in by parties who do a funny speech, they would not vote on proper knowledge and so children may indeed deiede to vote for GREEN because these days children in school are taught that global warming is very bad. Therefore children would think they were doing good in the world when actually they would be causing HAVOC! Side: No
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Some 18 year olds could be taken in by a party that is "funny". Also it is not such a thing that you should do as you are trying to get people to think children should not have a vote by ending your argument in such a way. parents are always told to control their children but frankly half the time it is so the parents can do what they like i have this women who always is coming over talking about "controll" but i have tasted freedom when my parents devorced i have lernt about :wicca, witchcraft,geisha,cats,arts so much more than when i was controlled. I am now at a state school that i hate ( i was at a private school before) and at this school it is drummed in about how the teachers are in controll but they are not. I have watched children give there veiws on the vote and then all the adults laughed it seemed a "novelty" to them. So many adults have said that "your mum decides what you do" but i want children to understand that it is not your parents choice ,what you wear,what you say, what you do ( as long as it is within the law). Side: yes
Absolutely not. Children (and even teens) are not nearly mature enough to vote. Even a lot of 18-year-olds are not mature enough! Example: I remember the school election we had my junior year of high school. A bunch of seniors ran for president, which led to a "primary", elimination of all but the two highest amount of votes, "speeches" (if you can call them that -_-), and the election between two candidates running for each position. The race for president was especially interesting. It was between this one kid who was a bit of a jerk, but was normal for the most part, and a kid who was clearly in his own world 100% of the time and almost definitely crazy to one degree or another. We'll call them Jay and Bob, respectively. Jay went to classes and campaigned like any other normal human being would. Bob stood at the front of the school in the morning and shook the underclassmen's hands when they walked in from the bus, but didn't even mention the campaign. A few days before the election, we were discussing it obviously. This is where I learned that basically every single freshman was going to vote for Bob based on "He shook my hand! He's funny!" Much of the sophomore vote was similar, I'm sure. And even some juniors thought "We should vote for him. What a joke! It'd make the position very interesting for the next year." Then we voted, and I know for a fact that Bob won. But when announced, Jay was declared the winner. And later on in the year, a story went around that Bob crashed his car into a tree and went to the hospital (unrelated to election result). Apparently he really was crazy and I don't remember seeing him in school after that. And that's what children and teens think of when voting. Therefore, bad idea. The second a celebrity endorses a candidate, the children will agree with their favorite celebs, or their friends, or (God forbid) their teachers, who shouldn't even be discussing politics in school. Nevertheless, 18+ for voting. Side: No
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