What do you hope for in the future? Do you want to retire in a world without war and destruction? Or maybe it’s living in a world where poverty and hunger are no longer major threats? This dream world may seem unreachable, however I believe that we can do it but only under one condition. The right people have to be voted into power and, therefore, I will be arguing why the voting age should not be lowered to sixteen.
A recent study by the World Health Organisation has found that the essential part of a teenagers brain has not fully developed until the age of 25 and examples of this can be seen all around us in the world today. Minors, according to current laws, are not yet mature enough to take part in purchasing alcohol, driving a car or making other important consent-based decisions. Sixteen years olds can be mature enough to get a job or consume alcohol however, unlike voting, these decisions do not decide the fate of a nation. Scientifically, 16-year-olds are not yet developed or mature enough to make life-changing decisions with confidence and this is crucial, especially during an election. Making an irrational choice whilst voting, not only puts your future at risk but can also put the country into the hands of an inexperienced leader, and who knows what can happen after that.
GCSE’s are the lifeblood of our education system. After all, they determine the future of all students in the UK. The GCSE Exams take place at sixteen years of age, putting huge amount of stress on students and is the only thing that we are worried about at this time in our lives. Lowering the voting age to sixteen would not increase interest in our political system or suddenly mean that the voter turnout would rise dramatically, it would probably all stay the same. I argue that sixteen-year-olds would go to the polls however their voting habits would be heavily impacted by the choices of their parents and teachers, meaning that our country would be overrun with a political system which only suits the needs of the older generation, going against the entire process of democracy
There is one quote that my father once told me: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and I believe it sums up our debate very well indeed. The simple fact of the matter is that 16-year-olds aren’t worried about whether they get the right to vote or not. There are no riots in the street or protests down Pall Mall and it isn’t the talk of school playgrounds up and down the country. If 16 and 17-year-olds are worried about having their voice heard there are many ways for them to do so and I believe these should be talked about more instead. Schemes should be implemented instead of the voting system in our country being changed altogether.
