Should Americans of the age sixteen years or older be given the responsibility of being a voting member of society?

The University of Pittsburgh found teens are more likely to take big risks because they are more accepting of unknown consequences. In the experiment 65 people between the age of 12 and 50, in a lottery situation teens that were not told the probability were more likely to take the risks.

If teens are old enough and responsible enough to be included in such an influential part of society like voting, then why are they not able to join the military? Also, why can they not be trusted enough to buy alcohol or cigarettes?

Eighteen is the legal age where a person is considered an adult by the government. If the voting age is lowered to sixteen would the age for Americans to be considered adults also have to be lowered.

From 1942 to 1971 youth activists in America argued that the voting age should be change to give young men that were being drafted to fight for this country the right to help make decisions that supported what they believed in. It took almost thirty years for the voting age to be changed the last time and there was a solid reason, so why should this country spend another thirty years on this discussion when there is no steadfast reason behind this change.

According the the University of Rochester Medical Center, the orbitofrontal cortex, a part of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for decision making does not fully develop until around the age of 25. Before the brain has reached its full development teens process information through the amygdala, which the emotional part of the brain. On the other hand the orbitofrontal cortex, which is what adults use to make decisions, is the rational part of the brain that responds to situations with good judgment and an awareness of long-term consequences.

All of the talk about raising or lowering the the minimum age requirements for all these different topics are brought on by the same question: Are teens responsible enough to be given this freedom? Allowing people to vote at sixteen would add close to eight millions of votes that were casted by people whose brains are highly susceptible to outside influences.

By visiting the #wheniwas16 people on Twitter people can craft an opinion for themselves. The University of Pittsburgh also did a study with the hopes of understanding adolescents susceptibility to drugs, behavioral disorders, and other psychological ills.