Minors Live In This Country As Well
Article XV(15); Section 1- The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
This amendment was ratified by the states in 1870, so that women, non wealthy people, and people of color could vote, of course, here is the 26th amendment.
Article XXVI(26); Section 1- The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account to age.
These two amendments make it so that any U.S citizen who is 18 or older can vote, no matter wealth, position, race, or gender. Back then, in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s, this was a pretty big thing, allowing the Youths of that time to vote. Nowadays, teenagers are considered today’s youths, with the exception of pre-teens.
Yet now stands the question.
Should minors, more specifically teenagers, be allowed to vote?
Now I’m going to break the rules of an essay to make this easier for me, so let’s do this.
How many of you think that teenagers are irresponsible, stupid, selfish and self-centered brats? Come on, don’t be shy.
Yes, there are many minors like this, but there’s absolutely no way the entire minor population is like this, and adults are not perfect either.
I’m sure a majority of you at least know, maybe know of one or two irresponsible adults, and who do kids look up to? Adults, and if adults are irresponsible, how do you think the children closest to them will grow up behaving?
There are at least over 74.2 million minors in the U.S, and worldwide, children only make up about 24% of the population. These numbers are from 2011. It’s 2017 now, how has the population of minors changed?
In the U.S, I believe personally, that more minors, especially those in the 12-15 year old range, have begun developing their own opinions on things, their own, possibly influenced by a parent or guardian, but more or less their own, from their view on things.
I’m just going to throw this out there, but people are lazy. Obviously there are hard working people, but we all have those lazy moments, or lazy habits. I’m lazy myself when it comes to writing, believe it or not. Writing is my favorite thing to do, but I do my best to avoid it.
My point is though, often people, mostly minors, I believe, will just take the word of an adult, without actually doing any research, because they don’t want to take time out their oh so “busy” life.
I myself could have not taken the time to research, and look up facts for this speech slash essay thing, but I did, because it’s not much use to shoot in the dark.
I may be wrong, and correct me if I am, but perhaps adults, not all, but some, think minors are too uneducated, and would make poor decisions concerning voting.
Well, here’s just an idea, but what if, now it’s a real crazy idea, but what if people made time to educate minors on politics, and taught them how to handle and understand their opinions better?
I do ponder that some parents or guardians do try to teach their kids about the big bad world, namely politics, because politics are a very big thing in this world, especially today.
Recently, there was a very big election, possibly the biggest and most tense election that the U.S may ever have, but who knows?
There were four candidates as it drew to a close, but the two most supported candidates were Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton. As I am writing this, Donald Trump is now President-elect, very soon to be President, if not already.
I know some very passionate-about-their-opinion minors. If I asked them if they wished to have been apart of the recent votings, they would probably say yes, definitely. This is their country too, after all, they wish to be apart of it’s future. In fact, they may as well be its future, eventually the youth of today will be the elderly of tomorrow.
Even if the voting age of the U.S should never be lower than 18, it’s still good to teach minors ahead of time to when they are eighteen, so they know where their opinion stands and what to do with it.
In junior high, and high school there are History and Social Study classes, but they just recall the past, and what so-and-so did and what when-and-where happened. They often don’t directly teach about opinion, but they do teach about where some opinions and passions got people.
For instance, the Civil War was fought over the issue of slavery, states rights, and the economical diversity of the nation's land. The nation was so split about these topics, that they fought, winner chooses the future of the nation. It ended with slavery becoming illegal. A lot of people were freed from slavery, but there was still discrimination. Only wealthy, white males were still able to vote in the early 1800’s of the U.S. That doesn’t seem fair, right? Well, women back then were considered unfit to do anything more than clean, cook, and give birth to babies.
People who didn’t own a lot of land, or a big house, for instance were considered poor, and therefore shouldn’t be able to vote, because logic, and people who weren’t white could also not vote. Discrimination still existed after slavery was abolished, because most white people still considered colored people to be below a regular human being.
Eventually, women fought back, as well as black people, and landed their right to vote, just like any other wealthy, white male.
Now that the history lesson is done….
Yes, this is where people’s passions, and opinions get them. Either disaster, or exactly what they want.
If your child, and if you don’t have one, imagine you do, suddenly showed an interest in how the President of the U.S was elected would you tell them about that process? But, would you also tell them all the other complicated, and more strenuous parts of the process, like first having an opinion or not on a candidate, and most likely receiving hate from the opposing side, depending on your opinion, and who you support?
I’m independent, which means I don’t fully support one person or side to the other, but I agree with some points, but I also disagree with other points a candidate, per say, might make. An even 50/50 for stuff, and I’m perfectly fine being independent, but not everyone else would agree.
This is where your child comes in. Say your child has grown up, and they support the opposite person or side that you’re on, which actually happened sometimes during the Civil War, but back to the topic, your child supports the side or person that you disagree with, or may even hate.
They’ve grown, and now they have their own opinion, but say they turn eighteen on the year of the next election, they’re still pretty new to the whole your-opinion-could-make-a-huge-difference thing. They may not know how to handle their own opinion, vote wise. They heard some things from so-and-so, but they also heard things from you, and then they decided they liked the other side best.
Their side ends up winning, but it turns out the new President is horrible, and it was a very bad thing that they are President. That was just an example, I meant nothing bad by it, but now your kid feels horrible because what they thought about the new President was all wrong, and they sort of helped the downfall of the U.S, because their source was unreliable, and a certain parent only talked about their side while their child was growing up, always dissing the other side, only talking about the bad, leading their child to curiosity, to the unreliable source, when their parent could have very well also discussed full on the other side or person.
It’s okay to talk about your opinion, but you should always take the other person or side into account, let your child decide their opinion, knowing full well that they know the good and bad of all the sides or people.
Minors should grow up, confident in their opinions, knowing that their thoughts aren’t misplaced. Which is why I want to encourage parents, guardians, teachers, and overall adults to teach today’s youth about the importance of their opinions.
I determine that most minors in America grow up thinking their opinion doesn’t matter, won’t matter, until they turn 18 at least.
That’s not what they should grow up thinking. Even if it seems like their opinions don’t matter, to them or to others, it does, because when they can make a difference, shouldn’t they be ready?
It’s their country as well.
Shouldn’t they be apart of it?
They go to school, getting educated in English, Math, Science, Physical Education, History, and even Art, Music, and so, so much more, but there’s one class that never seems to pop up. A class where they can learn about the outside world today. Of course, that’s what the news is for, but do you honestly believe that a youth today would willingly read a newspaper, or even an article online? Especially since there’s so much more “important” things they could do with their time? Such as watching youtube videos, or posting on a social media site.
Right now, the world is so riddled with electronics and drama, and false news, such as clickbait.
Clickbait can sometimes lead to a misunderstanding, or misinterpretation, leading to a misplaced opinion, based on lies, and who would be more inclined to fall for clickbait? Most likely young children who still haven’t quite grasped the concept of right or wrong, bad or good.
Adults and the internet are possibly the biggest areas where a youth can be influenced.
Now jumping back to my absolutely bonkers suggestion of teaching minors how to handle and feel confident in their opinions. I conclude that if minors could be taught in a safe and reliable environment with a safe and reliable person, mainly somebody experienced and open-minded about opinions, the youth population could become ready for adulthood.
Such as a weekend study group, or something. Maybe a bunch of parents and a few teachers could set up a time for minors, of all ages who are able, to have the opportunity to learn about politics, learn how systems work, learn how to handle their opinion. Learn where to find reliable sources and maybe even how to handle someone with an opposing view, perhaps, if they feel the need to argue or fight.
That’s all I have to say, but thank you, for listening. Have a lovely rest of your day or night.
