I have heard this issue brought up in a number of places. At school, on this board, various debates with other people. I have heard most of the viewpoints, and am yet to hear an intelligent argument in agreement with teenage voting. That is why I have come here, in hopes that I will.

The idea, as far as I understand, is that teenagers should allowed to vote in public elections and on propositions, ect., the same as an adult.

I personally am vehemently against the idea. In my experience with my teenage friends, the average teenager does not have the capacity to make an intelligent decision on a matter of this importance. The whole concept is absolutely absurd, and I am appalled someone would even suggest it.

Also, I believe the opinion of a child or teenager does not matter in the big scheme of things. I look at childhood as a phase we must all pass through before becoming adults and before mattering.

That's my opinion.

I have to say I do not think that teens should vote. They still are tryin to figure out life. one of the toughest things in an average teens life is whether or not they are cool. Now lets put that to a vote, if they could vote they would vote for who ever would be the coolest President not for who could do the best job. After all, technically, is class president really a popularity contest?

In this particular instance, i wouldnt use intelligent. teen agers are intelligent. They just in my opinion dont apply their intelligence productivly in most cases.

I would switch the term with inexperienced or not experienced enough to vote wisely.

and no, as with any thing, i wouldnt give a teenage the right to vote at all. They, in my opinion, simply are not in a position to do anything with it wisely. I wouldnt hand a child the keys to my car and tell them to drive it: i wouldnt hand a teenage the keys to my retirement and tell them to take care of it.

sorry

I agree. Even if thier were some teenagers who could choose a President wisely they would have to suffer with the rest. Mark your right, the whole "political" thing at schools is just a big joke, none of them really care if the School President is an airhead. As long as he/she is "cool" to the popular crowd aka the dark side.

Of course I used to agree when I was a teenager but hey I do no more.

In my opinion, 21 yrs old would be the right age. Just notice how many 19 or 20 yr old people go around marching for peace and how many in their 40s or 50s do that. So I dare to say 21 is right.

Teens should not be allowed to vote.

About a month ago, the eighth grade GATE class, including me, did a voting simulation. There were 3 periods, each period had four political parties and a group of citizen representatives. We would campaign for a month and try to get the entire school to vote. In the end the group with the most popular people won, not the group with the most capable ppl.

18 is a good age. if im old enough to die serving my country, i should be able to vote. this is not to say that 18 year olds ae all capable of voting, but that goes for anyage.

I voted "No, absolutely not." Not because of intelligence though.

I agree with all those who say teenagers should not vote due to lack of experience and political knowledge. Though I am not old enough to vote myself (18 is the minimum age in England), I believe that my interest in politics and knowledge of both British politics and international politics would be more then satisfactory to enable me to vote. Many teenagers are clueless when it comes to politcs, they know who Tony Blair is but they don't know who their MP is, what party Blair is in, who the parties in opposition are or even who the deputy Prime Minister is. It is nothing to do with lack of intelligence, many teenagers are more intelligent than much of the adult population, it is to do with how others perceive them. By 18 people see teenagers as adults and so it becomes more acceptable to develop an interest in Politics. Below that age, however very few people have an interest in Politics and if they could vote, far-right parties would see an increase in their share of the vote, something which would cause tremendous damage to our democratic system due to the simple fact that they don't understand the mainstream parties' policies and the implications of voting for a facsist party.
Before you knock the teenage generation however, rememeber that it contains the future Presidents, Prime Ministers and leaders of the world.

Most of us teenagers don't know what the hell we're talking about when it comes to politics simply because it is a boring topic and really doesn't affect us too much. So we shouldn't vote till we're 18. On the other hand, I do vote this year. And I will vote for President Bush.cause my heroes have always been cowboys...