Critique of "You're 16, You’re Beautiful and You’re a Voter" by Anya Kamenetz

An interesting article I read was from the New York Times titled “You’re 16, You’re Beautiful and You’re a Voter”. The author of the article Anya Kamenetz is a staff writer for Fast Company.
The article began by introducing the presidential race and the increase of younger and younger voters at the polls everyday. The point of view was valid and extremely reasonable until it stepped over the line from brilliant to extreme. Voting has been a touchy subject for the last couple of years. With more and more people neglecting the polls and portraying voting as a burden as opposed to a privilege, younger people need to be encouraged to vote responsibly. In this article the thought of an “early voting permit,” awarded only after “passing a simple civics course” is a great idea. The article speaks not only how they would have to work to get the permit, but how it would turn it for an age-related issue to an education-related issue.
The other issues presented by the author, however, I feel are extremely ludicrous. Implementing voting at an early age is one subject, but trying to spread the feeling out to topics such as alcohol, marriage, and the financial responsibility of credit cards is just too far. I know this may sound unfounded but you should just let kids be kids. The “phasing in adults rights and responsibilities is good but using method such as this will just shift the problems from the teens to the grade school children. The author suggests implementing a drinking permit at the age of 16 which allows you to have a few drinks with your parents and at school functions after passing an alcoholism course. Alcohol is not restricted from youths as a punishment, but as a health factor. The human brain does not fully develop until 20-21 years of age, according the WebMD.com. In any case, the most likely scenario is that if the 16 year olds get a drinking permit then the younger siblings and the siblings friends will want to drink too. Although they would not have as much access as the teenage group has now I feel that it would just shift the problem from bad to worse. Even with the drinking permit, most kids would abuse alcohol to the same extent they do nowadays.
The last issue the author suggests is the possibility of allowing kids to obtain credit cards as long as they had a parent co-signer and passed a financial literacy test. The “young applicants” would be required to make a year of on-time payments from money they have earned. I think teaching kids about the effects of credit cards is a great idea but actually giving them credit cards at that young of an age is senseless. Many teens do not think very far forward, and while this program might help to develop thought process, the majority of teens are going to get excited and run up a bill forgetting how much everything costs.
The author states, “The more we treat teenagers as adults, the more they rise to our expectations.” I think that is true but there is a point in life where kids should just be kids and with their whimsical ways should not be allowed to have access to things such as credit cards and alcohol. I understand that only the 16 year olds who work for the privileges will be rewarded with them. However, at a time when young people are figuring out who they are, there are many silly mistakes that will just be exaggerated with the allowance of underage drinking and credit card use. I do however support the thought of both educating student about all of the previous topics (alcohol, credit cards, and voting) and possibly allowing for an “early voting permit.”



I'm sorry this turned into a critique