Stop age discrimination!

[Caimlas]

However recent studies have shown that the portion of the brain responsible for decision making isn't fully developed until about the age of 21. At about 21 we begin using an entirely different system for making decisions that is more capable of avoiding bad decisions. Prior to the change the brain uses a system based mostly on pro v.s. con which tends to favor immediate gratification vs long term consequences.

That's just a correlation. It's entirely possible that people don't start making better decisions until 21 because that typically is the age at which people are seen as adults, and people (generally, in my assessment) realize they need to bone up a bit and assume their adulthood. It can also be observed that married people tend to be more responsible than single people (at least, I have).

Children/teens are, in our society, encouraged to make pro vs. con decisions and to not seriously consider their futures. It's all been taken care of, afterall - they've got until after college to screw around, and up until that point, pretty much everything has been determined for them. There's little variance.

Two hundred years ago, it not only happened, but it was commonplace for people to be seen as, and to behave as, adults at ages as young as 14 and 16 because they were brought up right, and weren't put through the god-aweful public schooling systems where mediocrity is the point of excellence (both socially and academically). I was home schooled for a large part of my pre-18 years, and it is my experience that there is no reason why a person can not be "college educated" (knowledge and comprehension equivilance) by the time they're 18, behaving like adults well before that time, as a norm (fairly large groups of home schoolers). And not just the "smart" ones, either - there were quite a few people who would likely test below the national average who were as mature and as knowledgeable as most 21-year-olds at the age of 17 or so.

 

[JerryM]

Hi Christianninja,

I would not have an objection to 25, although I would settle for 21. The insurance companies have many years and thousand of instances, and have settled on 25 the last time I noticed.

No 18 for my vote.

Regards,
Jerry

 

[Lupinus]

funny how fairly recently in history you were a man at 16 and you were expected to do everything as a man. Have a house, a wife, a family, and so on. It isn't that people aren't capable of doing it younger then 18, they have been doing it for thousands of years. It's that we shelter kids these days into artificialy long childhoods.

 

[travis87]

You are legally an "adult" at 18, by most definitions.

In terms of firearms...I don't get the 18 and 21 rule. Whats the difference, both are firearms. If its maturity people are worried about, a kid can be just as "immature," irresponsible, or deadly with a long gun as they can with a hand gun.

As for other things...

Driving, I was ecstatic to drive at 16 and at 20 still haven't been in an accident or been given a speeding ticket, so I proved the responsibility part, but I would say that the majority of kids should not be driving at 16.

Drinking, if you go to college, you pretty much start drinking at 18, there is not point in having the drinking age set at 21. My view is that the age of 21 actually makes kids drink more, because they can't drink a beer or two here and there, they just get someone who is 21 to buy for them and then get absolutely wrecked on the weekends.


Both sides can be argued equally well, this is just my take on things, coming from a 20 year old college kid.