Um, that’s great and everything, but it’s still too young. Your brain doesn’t finish developing until you’re 25, and the brain is the part of the body you’re concerned about when you’re making laws about when somebody should be able to make a big decision like getting married.
This isn’t true. The study you are referring to was simply funded to that point in time and there has not been a repeat study or any sort of extended work on that front, that’s simply when the study stopped. The more likely explanation is that your brain never stops developing. Also, the concept of child and adult are constructs, at some point we are old enough to think and act on our own and there is no universal marker for that change in rationality and behavior or any bar for where that divide line is drawn. The idea that people shouldn’t be allowed to practice autonomy until 25 is just coddling and absurd.
Technically you’re right, but there’s a whole load of things where you might be concerned about brain development. Enlisting, alcohol and tobacco consumption and taking out any sort of credit including student loans, comes to mind. I think actually you’ll agree with me that those should all be restricted to 25+.
Now where things get less clear is voting. Why should people under 25 be allowed to vote if we don’t consider them adult enough to make their own decisions in a lot of other cases? You could easily make the case that someone who can’t yet decide their own future, should not be able to decide on the future of the nation.
The impact of this would be that the group of voters that has the most reason to care about the future, might lose their voice entirely. Maybe it’s not a particularly active group, but they should be heard like anyone else.
This is one reason I don’t think it’s a great idea to start raising age minimums for things far above 18 based on the brain development argument.
Not to mention that marriage is a phase, they shouldn’t really be letting people get married. Do you even know what those wedding cakes are made of? And what if someone bullies you?
Um, that’s great and everything, but it’s still too young. Your brain doesn’t finish developing until you’re 25, and the brain is the part of the body you’re concerned about when you’re making laws about when somebody should be able to make a big decision like getting married.
This isn’t true. The study you are referring to was simply funded to that point in time and there has not been a repeat study or any sort of extended work on that front, that’s simply when the study stopped. The more likely explanation is that your brain never stops developing. Also, the concept of child and adult are constructs, at some point we are old enough to think and act on our own and there is no universal marker for that change in rationality and behavior or any bar for where that divide line is drawn. The idea that people shouldn’t be allowed to practice autonomy until 25 is just coddling and absurd.
Technically you’re right, but there’s a whole load of things where you might be concerned about brain development. Enlisting, alcohol and tobacco consumption and taking out any sort of credit including student loans, comes to mind. I think actually you’ll agree with me that those should all be restricted to 25+.
Now where things get less clear is voting. Why should people under 25 be allowed to vote if we don’t consider them adult enough to make their own decisions in a lot of other cases? You could easily make the case that someone who can’t yet decide their own future, should not be able to decide on the future of the nation.
The impact of this would be that the group of voters that has the most reason to care about the future, might lose their voice entirely. Maybe it’s not a particularly active group, but they should be heard like anyone else.
This is one reason I don’t think it’s a great idea to start raising age minimums for things far above 18 based on the brain development argument.
Not to mention that marriage is a phase, they shouldn’t really be letting people get married. Do you even know what those wedding cakes are made of? And what if someone bullies you?
I got married at 21, to a woman who was 30. Worst mistake of my life.
Robyn DeCradle
Anecdotally I am tending to agree but I have no scientific background. I feel like laws like this can be studied and then back by verification
Baby steps, It’s Missouri.