Should the Voting Age Be Lowered?

 

Student Essay by Isaac Wood

    For this project I am critiquing a paper by Kathryn Zaia on why the voting age should be lowered from 18 to 16. In her article, Zaia mentions how inspired she was by the "March for Our Lives" movement, and that it completely changed her opinion on teens. She argues that teens are more than mature enough to be voting alongside their peers. Her argument is that if they can organize a massive protest like this, why shouldn't they be allowed to vote?

        In my opinion, a major issue with her argument is the teens she was inspired by weren't a good representation of teens as a whole. Yes, the teens involved with the "March for Our Lives" were able to coordinate a large-scale event. However, this is a very small portion of teens. And what's more, most of those teens involved were just following the crowd. Only a few of those teens would have been planners and leaders. Although those few might be ready to vote, many others are not. In my experience with teens (being one myself), we are not ready for the responsibility of voting. This is due to being easily influenced, not seeking out sound knowledge, and not having minds developed enough for that responsibility. 

        One reason young teens shouldn't vote is because they are easily influenced by those around them. Whether it be by their peers, their friends, or the influencers they follow, teens tend to listen to people they are emotionally attached to rather than those who are knowledgeable. For example, I got into an argument with my friends about when the first date of winter was. After several minutes of arguing and getting nowhere, I decided to simply look it up. One Google search later I came upon an article that said that winter, depending on the year, starts on the 21st to the 22nd. Regardless, my friends adamantly opposed saying that was merely the start of winter solstice. This is true, but it is also the start of the astronomical winter. Despite looking up several more articles and weather forecast stations and getting the same answer, they wouldn't budge on their opinions. Eventually, I claimed to agree with them just so things wouldn't get out of hand. This is a good example of how teens don't budge on their opinions even when presented with multiple trustworthy sources, and how many succumb to peer pressure.

        Another reason why teens shouldn't vote is their tendency to ignore wise counsel. Many teens, myself included, would rather take what our friends say for granted instead of asking for advice from those who might know more, such as our parents. Although the "rebellious teenager" stereotype can be exaggerated, it still has some truth to it. With how commonly this stereotype gets repeated across media, it only reinforces this behavior.

        The final thing I want you to consider is how teenager's brains aren't developed enough to make sensible judgments. While adults think with the prefrontal cortex, the brain's rational part, teens think with the amygdala, the brain's emotional part. Ultimately this leads them to make hasty decisions. This doesn't make wise voters. A wise voter should make careful, calculated decisions when choosing who to vote for. Not picking whoever seemed the most interesting or the one that looked the best at a glance.

    Although Kathryn had the best of intentions, I don't believe she was correct about teen voting. The majority of teenagers are not mature enough, wise enough, or mentally developed enough to rationally vote. To do so would cause more harm than good.