Would it be ridiculous to illegalize 18 just because 18-year-olds aren’t mentally matured or experienced enough?

Answered Oct 24

At 18, I voluntarily recognised that I needed to work and take care of myself.

Against my idiot mother’s ideas, I moved about a thousand kilometers to stay with my father. Entirely to be in a geographic area with much better job prospects. I slept on his living room floor.

I struggled and got a job in a factory, with physical labour for US$3.35 an hour (minimum wage at the time). Put a few paycheques in the bank.

My father had a major career change, and was about to move to another city. I said that, it was time to be an adult, waived by-by, and got my first apartment. Paid for by me, with my money, that I earned by working at an adult job.

A month later, I moved a longer distance, to a large, aggressive city where I knew nobody. Got a room and a job and proceeded into adulthood.

I was still just 18 at that time.

With the level of coddling and support systems that some people have, I could easily have done that at 15 or 16, depending on legal eligibility.

I am acquainted with someone who actually did start working and supporting herself without a good support system, when she was 15, and who is one of the coolest people I’ve ever known. She was somewhat older when I first met her, but still comes across as more mature than average.

Functioning young adults (at 18 or whatever age) should never be legally or socially disadvantaged, just because somebody else lacked maturity.

I have actually witnessed attempts to raise “childhood” up to the age of 25, for things like medical consent, which is totally offensive and stupid.

There are 30-and-40-year-olds who lack the maturity and experience that I had as a teenager. Would you propose that those people be used to set the bar of adulthood to be past their age?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *