Jennifer Frost is a researcher who is currently writing a book about the 26th amendment which allowed voting at age 18 in the United States. The inspiration behind Frost’s work was to correct the mis-interpretation of youth involvement, and people who brought about this change in America. Frost argued that rather than government leaders pushing to make the change (as it is recorded in history), the change occurred from the “bottom up” – the youth themselves fighting for their rights to vote. At first glance I didn’t see the relevance of this topic, until something Frost mentioned struck me – voting at age 16 had been proposed in New Zealand. She then asked the question: “what defines maturity?”
I thought back to my home country, Scotland, where 16 and 17 year olds can vote (and in fact had a higher turnout rate than 18-34 year olds in the following Scottish independence referendum). This got me thinking about the true relevance of Frost’s work – that in order to move forward, we must first properly understand the past. By first correcting the understanding of historical events, (like the 26th amendment) we are better equipped to make decisions into the future.
Jennifer names her research process as getting knowledge “straight from the source,” and “casting a wide net.” This was reflected in her use of young apprentices in writing her book on the 26th amendment, keeping the research honest, contemporary and relevant.
