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Should Society Eliminate Age of Majority?

Should society eliminate age of majority?

  • Yes, maturity is qualitative, not quantitative.

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • Yes, there are better ways to judge maturity.

    Votes: 7 36.8%
  • No, society can't judge maturity better.

    Votes: 12 63.2%
  • No, maturity is quantitative, not qualitative.

    Votes: 2 10.5%

  • Total voters
    19
Your's and ecofarm's responses indicate that you wouldn't pass the test. Neither of you are sufficiently mature to discuss this subject seriously, and therefore should not be allowed to operate a motor vehicle.

Considering the fact that of the two of us,I am the only one intelligent and mature enough to recognize the enormity of the bureaucracy necessary to administer to such an impractical undertaking, I wonder if both you and Daktoria are motivated to support such silliness by the desire to be considered of the age of majority when you currently aren't.
 
the enormity of the bureaucracy necessary to administer to such an impractical undertaking

On the contrary, it would eliminate all need for bureaucracy. But that's OK, most people are now so mired in the "more power" paradigm that they think the only solution for everything is less individual responsibility for anything.
 
While I think age is not a good judge of majority, and there are better ways to determine whether someone should be treated as an adult, I also think that those other ways would take a lot of time and money, and might not be worth the effort.
 
What are these ways you guys are talking about that would cost so much time and money? Put boys in the Boy Scouts and let them learn self-reliance in the woods. Any man making it all the way through Boy Scouts program can be a fully enfranchised citizen. Anyone making Eagle Scout would be allowed to run for public office.

Girls should plant gardens to learn the value of nurturing something from seed to fully grown.

Competitive sports would NOT be an acceptable alternative. Too much showboating due to the televised nature of most sports. Cooperation without cameras should be the watch phrase.

And the paradigm of income or net worth as marker of value to society must end.
 
In some states, 12 year olds can get married with parental permission. Go figure. I guess it isn't statutory when it's your wife. Ick.
 
Hard to pick in this poll, but I think we should do age of consent like in Canada. You turn 16 and you can just consent. Simple. And don't tell me people can't consent at that age. Bologna.
 
Many people are mature beyond their years, and others never grow up.

Therefore, should society eliminate age of majority, and instead, require people to graduate a philosophical rite of passage before participating in adult activities?
Mature people can still do stupid things. Maturity does not guaranty wisdom and good decision making practices.
 
In some states, 12 year olds can get married with parental permission. Go figure. I guess it isn't statutory when it's your wife. Ick.

The point with that I guess is that the parents are making the evaluation of whether the person is responsible and mature and will do right by the minor. Anyway, such marriages are extraordinarily rare nowadays, a holdover from rural agricultural days.
 
No, simply because there isn't a better way to judge it on a societal level. You cannot take a group of people and decide that they are mature or immature without examining each one individually and we cannot have laws that operate that way. Therefore, we simply declare an arbitrary age as the place where people are expected to be mature and will be held accountable for being mature and leave it at that.

It's not a perfect system but I don't see another that works better.
 
If anything, the age of consent should be increased. It's a fact that kids-to-young adults are maturing later and later, due to several factors. We need to start adjusting accordingly, not least of which means pushing access to mature rights and privileges farther away.
 
If anything, the age of consent should be increased. It's a fact that kids-to-young adults are maturing later and later, due to several factors. We need to start adjusting accordingly, not least of which means pushing access to mature rights and privileges farther away.

It's not like they pay any attention to age now, they do what they want, when they want, and don't give a damn if they're supposed to do it or not.
 
Thankfully, philosophy doesn't deal with tastes, so that's not possible...

...unless we're talking about pragmatism, but that's stupid. Pragmatism literally denies the fact-value dichotomy as if natural facts are valuable by intelligent design, and those with predestined callings can feel them.

No thanks.



You MUST be joking. You can't even get two philosophers to agree on how many jelly beans are in a jar, much less an OBJECTIVE standard of maturity.


That's the problem. A truly objective standard for maturity would be hard to come by; keeping the standard free from political and ideological bias would be flat impossible in today's world.


No thanks.
 
If anything, the age of consent should be increased. It's a fact that kids-to-young adults are maturing later and later, due to several factors. We need to start adjusting accordingly, not least of which means pushing access to mature rights and privileges farther away.


Not very feasible. Lots of kids are hitting puberty these days at 10 and 11 years old. A regrettable number of girls are having babies at 12 and 13yo.

Where are we going to find the money to build the prisons for all the teenagers we'd have to put in prison for "statutory rape"?
 
Many people are mature beyond their years, and others never grow up.

Therefore, should society eliminate age of majority, and instead, require people to graduate a philosophical rite of passage before participating in adult activities?

Please no more government agencies to tell us how to live. I have enough faith in the people in this country to run their own lives, especially if they are following the rule of law.
 
Not very feasible. Lots of kids are hitting puberty these days at 10 and 11 years old. A regrettable number of girls are having babies at 12 and 13yo.

Where are we going to find the money to build the prisons for all the teenagers we'd have to put in prison for "statutory rape"?

I don't mean necessarily sexual activity, I meant more driver's licenses, contracts, alcohol/drug access and even college.

I mean, twenty one year old's of today are like the sixteen year old's of 30 years ago. We expect too much of our kids too soon, considering we live to be 80 years easily nowadays. Everything is getting pushed forward by a decade or so; time to update our societal standards.
 
I don't mean necessarily sexual activity, I meant more driver's licenses, contracts, alcohol/drug access and even college.

Where do you get the idea that kids don't drink or do drugs early now?

I mean, twenty one year old's of today are like the sixteen year old's of 30 years ago. We expect too much of our kids too soon, considering we live to be 80 years easily nowadays. Everything is getting pushed forward by a decade or so; time to update our societal standards.

No, we don't expect nearly enough. There was a time where kids were taught to be responsible early on, kids as young as 12-13 acted as responsible adults, worked, etc. Today, we don't expect a damn thing. We just give kids whatever they want and don't hold them accountable for anything.

That's got to stop.
 
I don't mean necessarily sexual activity, I meant more driver's licenses, contracts, alcohol/drug access and even college.

I mean, twenty one year old's of today are like the sixteen year old's of 30 years ago. We expect too much of our kids too soon, considering we live to be 80 years easily nowadays. Everything is getting pushed forward by a decade or so; time to update our societal standards.


No thanks.

My son is 16. He is very mature. He's been driving for over a year; it is past time he had his full driver's license, and he wants to get a part-time job.

He's been raised to be that way.

Shall we push driver's licence to age 21?? What about college students who don't live on campus and don't live in towns with public transportation? What about 18yo's who are married and have jobs?


No, I don't advocate pushing this stuff even further back. The problem won't be fixed by legally inducing teenagers and twenties to REMAIN irresponsible children that much longer, but by TEACHING them to be responsible at a reasonable age... by 15 or 16yo, they ought to be CAPABLE of functioning in the adult world to some reasonable degree. If they aren't, someone has failed in their upbringing and/or education.
 
Where do you get the idea that kids don't drink or do drugs early now?

They do. What I'm saying is, the latest generation maturity is delayed relative to previous generations. My generation was really one of the last still somewhat in line with the traditional social timeline set in the mid 20th century. The newest ones were raised in our brave new globalized culture. It's a different scenario; the maturity levels, in the strictest sense of the word, not is some imaginary idea of "good kids", is being delayed farther and farther. Like I said, the 21 year olds of today are like the 16 year olds of 30 years ago. The old social timeline just doesn't apply. It's not a good or a bad thing; kids just need loner to reach a mental capacity where they can apply themselves in a proper manner. We have to stop sending 18 year olds off to college, to drink and do drugs and expect them to graduate by 22. Today's 18 y/o's, for the most part, simply haven't developed the brain structures necessary to complete higher education, to use alcohol and drugs responsibly, to learn how to drive a 2500 lb automobile safely at 65 mph, etc.



No, we don't expect nearly enough. There was a time where kids were taught to be responsible early on, kids as young as 12-13 acted as responsible adults, worked, etc. Today, we don't expect a damn thing. We just give kids whatever they want and don't hold them accountable for anything.

That's got to stop.

Easy, Old Man Johnson. Time was when a sixteen year old was considered fully mature and ready to make his own way in the world. The rate of change has accelerated exponentially in the late 20th/early 21st century, and now that time frame of maturity has been pushed back. It's just that natural pull of change. No use fighting against it, better to adjust accordingly. It's not that kids are less mature these days (though, for the most part, teenagers are still dumber than parakeet sh!t), it's that the rate of maturation has been stretched to a later date to compensate for longer lives and our quickened society and culture.
 
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No thanks.

My son is 16. He is very mature. He's been driving for over a year; it is past time he had his full driver's license, and he wants to get a part-time job.

Lol, that's what every parent says. I'm not saying it's not true in your case, but...every parent says that. Doesn't really speak volumes about the larger picture.

Shall we push driver's licence to age 21?? What about college students who don't live on campus and don't live in towns with public transportation? What about 18yo's who are married and have jobs?

I'm not talking about some piecemeal plan. It's a systemic adjustment to changing trends. At the same time, the latest generation is riving less than any generation since the boom of the American automobile. So the effects of delaying driver licenses will not be the same as it might have been on your generation, back when the Flintstones braking system was just hitting the market, amiright??? :lamo


No, I don't advocate pushing this stuff even further back. The problem won't be fixed by legally inducing teenagers and twenties to REMAIN irresponsible children that much longer, but by TEACHING them to be responsible at a reasonable age... by 15 or 16yo, they ought to be CAPABLE of functioning in the adult world to some reasonable degree. If they aren't, someone has failed in their upbringing and/or education.

Gosh, I'm not advising we delay their entrance into society. How about we back off the college push in senior year to let them work/volunteer until their early to mid-20's before they head off to the university? Let them get all the stupid teenager crap out of their systems before embarking on one of the most expensive undertakings of their lives up to that point. Let them work at McDonald's and learn how to make money and learn why saving is important, how to show up on time, how to taker directions from your boss, etc? Why send an 18 y/o fresh out of the shelter of HS into the big world of college campuses when you can send a older, more experienced early twenty year old into it, one who might have a more complete picture of how being a responsible adult is supposed to be?
 
Many people are mature beyond their years, and others never grow up.

Therefore, should society eliminate age of majority, and instead, require people to graduate a philosophical rite of passage before participating in adult activities?


The baby boomers are a pain about time gen x took over.
 
Lol, that's what every parent says. I'm not saying it's not true in your case, but...every parent says that. Doesn't really speak volumes about the larger picture.



I'm not talking about some piecemeal plan. It's a systemic adjustment to changing trends. At the same time, the latest generation is riving less than any generation since the boom of the American automobile. So the effects of delaying driver licenses will not be the same as it might have been on your generation, back when the Flintstones braking system was just hitting the market, amiright??? :lamo




Gosh, I'm not advising we delay their entrance into society. How about we back off the college push in senior year to let them work/volunteer until their early to mid-20's before they head off to the university? Let them get all the stupid teenager crap out of their systems before embarking on one of the most expensive undertakings of their lives up to that point. Let them work at McDonald's and learn how to make money and learn why saving is important, how to show up on time, how to taker directions from your boss, etc? Why send an 18 y/o fresh out of the shelter of HS into the big world of college campuses when you can send a older, more experienced early twenty year old into it, one who might have a more complete picture of how being a responsible adult is supposed to be?


How about instead we make a collective effort to infuse them with a bit of a sense of responsibility when they are IN High School?

I went to a local HS a few days ago, while I was working. Entered the parking lot carefully and went slow... no teenagers in sight... good thing I went slow, cuz suddenly a door flew open and a dozen teenage boys (dressed out for PE) came barrelling out, running at top speed. I'd swear in a court of law that NOT ONE OF THEM looked to the left or the right, they ran right in front of my truck and were either utterly oblivious to the near presence of multi-ton squashification or assumed that some magical property of being under 19 would protect them from 75 horsepower wrapped in steel.

As it happens I was far more alert than they, and far more aware of the mortal nature of Man, fortunately for them.


To me, it is inexcuseable that those YOUNG MEN (in many previous societies, they would have been considered young ADULTS at that age, able to marry and subject to military service) apparently grew up with a total lack of comprehension that their bodies are mortal and that no mystical force will save them from their own stupidity just because they are young.

The problem isn't that the age of majority is too young, the problem is our society isn't requiring our kids to grow up and become adults.

Next I went to the middle-school, and that was even worse. Apparently the adolescents there have yet to realize that there is a universe that exists beyond their texting into their cellphones and on the other side of their friends' faces.... let alone that there are things in that universe that might hurt.

I mean dayum, I expected better sense out of my kid when he was 10. Maybe that is why I got better sense out of him.


The whole experience made me wonder if we need to have Hunger Games or something... :roll:
 
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