School Kids To Strike For The 5Th Time Of Friday

[Bobbisox1]

The debate on Jeremy Vine is
Should the voting age be lowered to 16 as these young people are the future of the planet
They can join the army
They can get married

But are they well equipped to know exactly what there voting for?

[spathiphyllum]

"Maybe they should... "

I want mr boris to be prime minister because he looks like the fat controller and the fat controller does good at controlling the trains so he will be good at controlling people

[pixie374]

Righto xx

[pixie374]

Perhaps only females from 13... and males from 23...

[spathiphyllum]

perhaps.

[pixie374]

Yes... you did make a very good point about maturity. I am always willing to change my mind when convinced otherwise. And you are correct... females mature much earlier than males in every way. Maybe it would make more sense to let them vote at a younger age... after all, it would be very sexist to prevent them, just because the boys haven't caught up yet.
Very interesting, thank you spath xx

[hereIam]

The voting age should be left at 18, but I wasn't that interested in politics at that age and voted who my parents voted for !

[fender62]

16yr olds would probably vote labour, free council house, no bills to pay and an xbox or playstation, and if they make there beds and remove there smelly socks from under it said bed, they get a shiny new smart phone.

[ummmm]

Gosh...shocking what some people think of our youngsters.

[Gromit]

The voting age is entirely arbitrary, and does take into account how knowledgeable or clever a person is. If it did, half the nation would be disqualified from voting.
And it is not about maturity. Age is not a guarantee of wisdom. Some people are just stupid, and the years between their 18th Birthday and their 70th Birthday will not alter that.
Some of the arguments against lowering the age on this thread are extremely disingenuous. As if most 16 year olds are not fully formed humans yet.

We are debating this now because one side believes a change (or not) will be an advantage to one side or other. So the debate unfortunately goes down those lines. Conservatives are against it because they fear 16 year olds will favour more left wing views. And lefties are in favour of it because that is probably true. But it is not really the basis for an informed argument. We all know that pensioners tend to be more conservative voting, but that is no basis for saying the voting age should be capped at 60, and anyone above that age disenfranchised.

Probably best though, to leave it as it is.

[Spicerack]

I knew everything when I was sixteen and I was the biggest Lefty in the village. ( cringe )

[davebro]

/and does take into account how knowledgeable or clever a person is./

does NOT ?

[ummmm]

For goodness sake. He missed out a word, hardly worth pointing out, we knew what he meant.

[spathiphyllum]

"Gosh...shocking what some people think of our youngsters."

You can't have it both ways... With all the media spout about knife crime and violence from youngsters what do u expect?

[davebro]

/For goodness sake. He missed out a word, hardly worth pointing out, we knew what he meant./

I'm a proof reader - just can't help myself!

[spathiphyllum]

Is it almost as pointless as commenting on the comment regarding the grammatical error?

Just like this answer is now commenting on a comment that is commenting on a comment about a grammatical error.

Totally pointless, just a the first comment.

Ah well.. now we're in the pointless group aint we.

[Gromit]

Thanks davebro,

I did indeed miss out the NOT by mistake.

[davebro]

/ a comment about a grammatical error/

a missing word is not a grammatical error if the sentence still makes sense.

[THECORBYLOON]

Folk in England can leave school aged sixteen.

"You can leave school on the last Friday in June if you’ll be 16 by the end of the summer holidays.

You must then do one of the following until you’re 18:

"•stay in full-time education, for example at a collegestart an apprenticeship 
•or traineeshipspend 20 hours or more a week working
•or volunteering, while in part-time education or training"

[ummmm]

What do I expect, Spath? To not have my law abiding children judged by the actions of others.

[spathiphyllum]

Well the issue with society is that it likes to round people up in certain groups such as age etc..

Also, just because you think your kids are perfect, does not mean they are at all.