Voting is too much responsibility at 16

Ray Azzopardi, Marsascala

Why are we trying to make our youngsters grow at a faster pace? Why don't we allow them to mature naturally? It is already bad enough that our youth, once they reach the age of 16, are legally allowed to drink alcohol even though we adults know that it is detrimental to their health when taken without control. We are exposing our youngsters too early to the adult environment, which unfortunately is not a healthy one.

Dolores Cristina, Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports, in her comment piece Yes to Reform (August 22) states when referring to youth that "...theirs is a vulnerable age. It is also the age when they are assuming new responsibilities, some of which on occasion go beyond their age." It is precisely because 16-year-olds are in a very crucial stage in their formation that they should not get actively involved in partisan politics. By giving 16-year-olds the right to vote they are assuming a responsibility beyond their age.

We have to admit that the vast majority of 16-year-olds have, at this stage, not yet reached full maturity. They have just finished their secondary school and most of them are still puzzled about what career to take up. Recommending that 16-year-olds be given the right to vote is distracting our youngsters from what their priorities should be at a very crucial stage in their lives. As was clearly affirmed in the editorial (August 21) "... the age is too critical in terms of personal development for those who belong to it to be channelled away from First Things."

Let us allow our youth to grow and mature at their own pace and let us not hurry them to take decisions at an earlier age when they should be more with enhancing their overall growth rather than contesting elections. Not only should we not lower the age of voting to 16 but for the good of our youth and that of society at large let the age of drinking alcohol be legally raised to 18.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Tuesday, January 6, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

malcolm tortell (on 27/8/08)

@ Maria Vella:
without going into the merits of whether or not people should be given the vote at 16 please tell me what you consider to be an acceptable IQ. Also please tell me what IQ test you would suggest using, and the conditions under which it will it will be administered.
Do you wish to exclude a portion of the population from exercising their basic rights on the basis of IQ? Do you even know what IQ is?

maria vella (on 27/8/08)

Perhaps rather than revising the voting age to 16 we should introduce IQ tests and those achieving an acceptable grade, thus showing some level of intelligence, should be allowed to vote

Gerard Cassar (on 27/8/08)

Voting at sixteen. Just a relevant question. Will 16 years' old be eligible to candidate for the local councils even as Mayors. The answer appears to be "Yes of course once they would vote".
I am impervious to any remarks for or against the subject. I just point out something that has not been mentioned so far, though the answer seems obvious.

Adrian Cardona (on 27/8/08)

I would prefer an intelligent 16 year old to have a vote, rather than a hard-core supporter who votes for the same party even if they made his life a misery. Too many votes are wasted on 'mature' people anyway.