Jennifer Frost bought age into the spotlight. Specifically, the arbitrary nature of age in our society and how age is a social construct. In terms of politics, I have always thought about how strange it is that as young people, we are reprimanded for a lack of interest in politics. Well… how can we blossom and become interested in a sphere where young people have essentially no voice or power? Yet, the laws being passed, the bills debated and the ethics questioned all impact the youth’s entire adult or “mature” lives the most. Logically, shouldn’t that mean that we, as the youth, should be much more involved?
Frost argued that within this current age of the internet, the youth are becoming mature faster than ever. Additionally, New Zealand’s youth and children minister has shown his support of civic education and of lowering the legal voting age to sixteen. With all of this support, who could possibly disagree? I decided to ask my favourite Boomer. They argued that civic education potentially leaves too much room for bullying and biasing the next generation with personal agenda. While they agreed with, “if you get into the habit of voting then you do it.”
At the end of the day I really just don’t know what the right age is.
