I've been thinking and I feel like youths are deprived f a lot of their rights listed in the Constitution. We don't really have free speech until we're 18. We can't really express ourselves fully when we're in school. Our school newspapers have to be looked over by adminsitration (freedom of press).

Yes I know that youths are immature and can't make reasonable decisions like adults can. But does that mean we can't have our basic freedoms listed in the Constitution?

What do you think?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Miss_Mod,

I can't vote yet, but I have become very involved in this election. I discuss what I think with my parent and have debates with my friends. In my opinion this is the first election that I have any idea what is going on and is really fun. I don't think I should be able to vote in this election or until I'm 18 although I would like to. I think of it as practice for the next election when I can vote. Other rights are also given at age 18 when you can be informed and make the right choice.

The age 18 cut off is really just arbitrary. There has to be a line drawn somewhere because it would be chaos if a person could vote from the time they were born. Imagine a three year old going to the polling station. They wouldn't vote; they'd draw a crude stick figure on the ballot with a crayon.

Yes, it's unfair that knowledgeable minors can't vote, but it's also unfair that ignorant adults can vote. No matter where the line is drawn, there will always be people who should be able to vote and can't as well as people who shouldn't be able to vote and can.

Ideally, there would be some kind of test to prove that people knew what they were doing before voting (that they knew who the candidates were and what their stances on the issues were). The Fifteenth Amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibit tests like that when used to prevent a person of voting age from voting based on race or color, which would undoubtedly cause problems if a non-color based test was instituted, but I think it would weed out a lot of the people who don't know what they're doing when they vote, which would create a more informed voting population.

At any rate, as I said before, there has to be a line somewhere and it just happens to be at 18. It could be 16 and people would complain. It could be 21 and people would complain. Right now, it's based on the legal definition of an adult (someone over 18), which is also arbitrary, but at least they're connected.

I think both issues have a point I mean yes, I agree weteens should have more rights, but look what grownups do to keep those right. I think the real question is: If you want the rights, are you willing to do what you have to do to keep those rights? are u willing to pay taxes, get a job so you can pay those taxes, and do all the other things grown ups do to keep their rights? Thats the thing most wont. I think the goverment sees it this way: why give somethig to a group of people who most wont even do what it takes to keep it?

If teens were given the right to vote we could make the wrong choices. But what would be the difference if an adult voted for something that was wrong. The difference is that their older and most people figure that if your older then your wiser. That's completely incorrect. They're are very bright and advanced youths in this world that have to wait until their 18 to vote. If they were given the opportunity to vote young chances are that their choice could change the world. Think about it, one very bright youth could be equivalent to three ignorant adults who vote just to vote.
If teens were aloud to vote they could help to balance out the ignorance of some adults.
Afterall who's to say we're right?
We're just teens.

I think teenagers are pretty much looked at as expendable by the government. We don't work, we don't pay income tax, and we can't vote. We're just here, I guess. School isn't mandatory because the government cares about what we learn. We're there so we're not on the streets causing trouble. Could you imagine if the millions of teenagers that go to school six hours a day were at home instead? Eh, we're pretty much invisible until the first time we vote. Even then, not a shining improvement.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Constitution only guarantees the right to vote for Americans older than 18. It's in the 26th amendment, which says, "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 by any State on account of age."

Up until this amendment was passed in 1971, the voting age was 21.

Rights in schools are generally abridged in the name of learning. For instance, you don't go to school to run a newspaper; you go to school to learn. School newspapers are generally run as part of a class, so it makes perfect sense for the papers to be looked over by teachers or the administration. Furthermore, the school pays to run the paper, so they have the last say in what actually goes in it. If you want complete freedom of the press, run a newspaper outside of your school. Of course, you'd have to put up money to pay for it, but then you'd have control over the content.

As to the sales tax question, I don't have a good answer as I can't find very much information about the issue.

I totally agree. I think we should have the right to vote. The are supposed to be representing us and how are they if we don't even elsct them. No taxation without representation. We are taxed when we buy things so not letting teens vote is technically agaisnt what America is about.