Age of Majority - Powerlevel at your own risk.

[*Asterisk*]

When should a child be considerd an adult?

Too often, this topic is only ever discussed by thirsty creeps looking for a sex robot. Considering this is a topic which deeply effects everyone alive, and who will be alive, such a thing is disgraceful.

Human children are the most helpless of creatures. At birth, they can neither walk, crawl, nor lift their head with their own power. It takes a lifetimes of the average canine before most of them could hope to produce viable offpring. It's amazing any of our species ever passed such tests of patience as child-rearing demands.

But something important gets lost in the discussion: being a kid sucks.

It's almost impossible for a minor in the modern west to have any meaningful freedom in running their own life. They can neither sign contracts, earn money, own assets, travel independently, nor leave an enviornment they despise of their own volition. All choices are made for them whether they like it or not, and by the time they're actually old enough to be free from the miserable life of minordom, they've been renderd psychologically castarated by the drone state they've been confined to. Millennials are merely the logical conclusion to a life deprived of freedom and responsibility.

This can't possibly be an acceptable future. So what is? How should the transition from minor to major be handled to promote a well-adjusted populous? What're the ideal ages for granting the rights and responsibilities of adulthood? Should it be a flat age for everything, or should things be tier'd off?

And -- what everyone's been waiting for -- what's the lowest possible age it should be legal to suck off dirty old men for money?

 

[ChurchOfGodBear]

When should a child be considerd an adult?

Too often, this topic is only ever discussed by thirsty creeps looking for a sex robot. Considering this is a topic which deeply effects everyone alive, and who will be alive, such a thing is disgraceful.

Human children are the most helpless of creatures. At birth, they can neither walk, crawl, nor lift their head with their own power. It takes a lifetimes of the average canine before most of them could hope to produce viable offpring. It's amazing any of our species ever passed such tests of patience as child-rearing demands.

But something important gets lost in the discussion: being a kid sucks.

It's almost impossible for a minor in the modern west to have any meaningful freedom in running their own life. They can neither sign contracts, earn money, own assets, travel independently, nor leave an enviornment they despise of their own volition. All choices are made for them whether they like it or not, and by the time they're actually old enough to be free from the miserable life of minordom, they've been renderd psychologically castarated by the drone state they've been confined to. Millennials are merely the logical conclusion to a life deprived of freedom and responsibility.

This can't possibly be an acceptable future. So what is? How should the transition from minor to major be handled to promote a well-adjusted populous? What're the ideal ages for granting the rights and responsibilities of adulthood? Should it be a flat age for everything, or should things be tier'd off?

And -- what everyone's been waiting for -- what's the lowest possible age it should be legal to suck off dirty old men for money?

I don't think there is too much wrong with our current system, which defines 18 as being a legal adult for all purposes except consuming alcohol. It's not perfect, but it generally gets people through their high school years with the guidance of their parents, which I think is the intent.

Areas where I believe improvement could be made:

1) There is a disconnect between being called a legal adult, able to vote and volunteer for military service, and not being able to legally drink yet. Either the age to vote should be raised or the age to drink should be lowered. I tend to lean toward the former, but I can see valid arguments either way.

2) Statutory rape laws make little to no distinction between consenting and non-consenting sex. This becomes an issue after the victim hits the age of 15 or so. Having sex with a 15 year old is very different than having sex with a 5 year old. Both are still wrong and should result in you going to jail, but a distinction should be made between physically forcing a minor to have sex and merely taking advantage of a teenager's poor judgement.

3) Contrary to popular belief, the legal driving age for most states is 18. The license you get at 16 is, in fact, a provisional license you can receive at the discretion of your parents, who can rescind it at any time they choose, and for any reason. Far too many parents and children are unaware of this fact.

 

[Positron]

You have to undergo a rite of passage -- which in its modern form should be a test for self-sufficiency -- or you're forever a child regardless of your age.

 

[vertexwindi]

I don't think there's a magic age that automatically makes a child an adult, but the age of 18 is a good age to assume that someone knows how to be mostly self-sufficient (feeding themselves, doing their chores, that kinda thing). From my experience, if they don't know how to do any of that by that age, they usually won't learn it later on anyway.

I'm going to have to disagree on the drinking bit, though - I think it's rather arbitrary that you can be as self-destructive as you want to the fullest extent of the law when you hit the age of 18 with the exception of drinking.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

by the time they're actually old enough to be free from the miserable life of minordom, they've been renderd psychologically castarated by the drone state they've been confined to. Millennials are merely the logical conclusion to a life deprived of freedom and responsibility

I fail to see how millennials are especially prone to this in a world where no generation of children has never been allowed significant autonomy over its own experiences.

I know a lot of millennials say and do stupid shit but whenever I see the standard argument about how society is doomed because young people, I like to go read the idiotic "kids these days" screeds that people like Aristotle were writing about the impending destruction of modern society 2,500 years ago.

 

[InLivingTuna]

I think being young has some kind of nonsensical consequences to it. Now, of course I'd think that, I'm under 18, but there is a legitimate case to be made on some things.

Right now I'm limited to the number of hours I can work and when. Now, I'm all for stopping child labor, that's why these laws exist, but I'm already well into high school. The time in my life that I was a vulnerable child is behind me, and I don't see how giving me 4 hours on a weeknight instead of 3 is going to be incredibly detrimental to me. Someone who's 16 and living with his parents isn't gonna have any less need for money than someone who's 18 and living with his parents, yet that arbitrary 2 year difference is enough to decide who gets the better schedule.

 

[AnOminous]

I think 18 and it should be 18 (at most) for drinking, too. There's no logical reason for being able to sign up to kill people in the armed forces and not being able to have a beer afterwards. Also no other civilized country has a drinking age of 21.

 

[Lachlan Hunter McIntyre]

In the womb. Negative age

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Americans are way to coddled nowadays. I've seen some argue that 18 year olds should stil be treated as children.

Also no other civilized country has a drinking age of 21.

Didn't it used to be 18 and then Mothers Against Drunk Driving lobbied Congress to raise it?

 

[AnOminous]

Americans are way to coddled nowadays. I've seen some argue that 18 year olds should stil be treated as children.


Didn't it used to be 18 and then Mothers Against Drunk Driving lobbied Congress to raise it?

Yes. And since a national drinking age isn't up to Congress, they bullied all the states into enacting a 21 drinking age by threatening to revoke federal highway funding unless they did.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

Americans are way to coddled nowadays. I've seen some argue that 18 year olds should stil be treated as children.

They are. It's called 4 years of summer camp university.

 

[ScrewTheRules]

The age at which an individual person can be called an adult is heavily dependant on that person. I knew people who at 13 were going out clubbing, sexually active and dating older guys and it wasn't ever much of an issue; they knew what they were doing, knew the risks and weren't being taken advantage of. I also have known grown-ass adults who should not be having sex, period, because they are not yet emotionally mature enough to make a good decision.
That in mind, I do think 18 is a good point to set the bar legally. At that point you are out of compulsory education, have presumably been educated, and should have had at least some opportunities to get out from under your parents thumb, not to mention having met people outside of your own family which counts for a lot.
I agree with AnOminous that if somebody isn't old enough to drink, they sure as hell aren't old enough to die for Queen and Country, and sincerely think that the age for military service in the UK should be raised to 18.

 

[Thespy]

I unno.

I just think it's weird that 18 year olds today were 8 years old in 2006. Meaning they were 2~3 when 9/11 happened.