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However, being fourteen they are still kids and a part of me wants to protect the social institution of childhood. We keep creating systems, structures and philosophies that blur the line between adults and children and there is a very real sense that we are seeing a dissapearance of childhood.

But I'd also change the age of being tried as an adult from fourteen to sixteen. It should also be the age when someone can begin drinking.

Have you looked at the countries that have a low voter age (14 for example)? Most of them are corrupt, totalitarian regimes.

That said, I wish I had voting rights at fourteen as much as the next guy.

Sam, very good points but…Do you know that the frontal lobe of the brain (which controls our ability to initiate, problem-solve, form logical arguments, make judgement calls, and control emotional and behavioral impulses) is not fully developed until age 18-20? When I take that *scientific fact* into consideration, the idea of 14 year olds voting really frightens me. Perhaps we should not match the voting age to the working age. Perhaps we should match the working age to the voting age. Who ever thought 14 year olds should be working anyway?? I say kids are growing up too fast these days. Why should we force political fervor onto them? Let the kids be kids and the grown-ups be grown-ups. I do like BKB's idea. I think there should be something in between, like teaching adolescents about social responsibility through modeling. I personally never volunteered as a youth unless I knew that it was somehow for my benefit. X amount of community service hours got me this badge or that grade, which therefore looked nice on my college applications. But suppose there is a middle ground? Something in between teenage apathy/xeroxing parents ballots/American President Idol and 14 year old voters? Suppose there were one staff at every high school whose sole (soul?) responsibility was to expose students to social responsibility. They promote weekly service events and various ways to be involved, teach on current social and political issues via fliers and classroom presentations, get students thinking about the community they live in and get them wanting to be a part of it.

Let me be the first to say that at the age of fourteen I was in no way an adult. Having the voting age at 18 makes sense because everyone has had the opportunity to get a basic education. By the age of 14 I had not yet even take a high school level course in American History or Government. By the age of 14 I had not experienced any formal education on sex, drugs, or many other key issues that an informed voter should have a basic understanding of. I understand that just because I person turns 18 they aren't necessarily an informed citizen, but at they have been given the tools (public education) to make thoughtful decisions. Regardless of whether or not they took advantage of them. Waiting to give someone the right to vote until they are 18 isn't prolonging their childhood, it is giving them 18 years and the chance to educate themselves before they are expected to choose sides on incredibly important decisions that influence us all.

I think most everyone would agree that it is a problem that minors are taxed, tried as adults, and are generally misrepresented in a number of ways. However, I agree with Brandan, these problems are not solved by lowering the voting age.