📝 School assignment - Age and votes Politiikka ja hallinto

Hi everybody, 🙋‍♀️

At school we have a class called in Dutch maatschappijleer (I think in English it is maybe translated society study). And we have an assignment but it is not for a grade. It is only for discussion we have in the class on Monday.

We have to think about age and votes. Today in my country people vote for European Parlement. And you can only vote if you are 1️⃣8️⃣ or older. Now the question that we discuss is do you think that it should be ok to vote if you are 13 and older? Or maybe 16 and older? Or keep like 18 and older?

Almost everybody in my class said yes that also at 13 and older you can vote because we also have opinions. But together with one other in my class i think no because we dont even know most names of the parties and what they think in the programmes. But others said that many people who are 18 and older also dont know the parties and the programmes and they can vote!! 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️ 😵‍💫😵

What do you think? We dont have to do interviews but I am curious what you think.

Thank you a lot!! 🌺🌸 🙏🙏

Hi everybody, 🙋‍♀️

At school we have a class called in Dutch maatschappijleer (I think in English it is maybe translated society study). And we have an assignment but it is not for a grade. It is only for discussion we have in the class on Monday.

We have to think about age and votes. Today in my country people vote for European Parlement. And you can only vote if you are 1️⃣8️⃣ or older. Now the question that we discuss is do you think that it should be ok to vote if you are 13 and older? Or maybe 16 and older? Or keep like 18 and older?

Almost everybody in my class said yes that also at 13 and older you can vote because we also have opinions. But together with one other in my class i think no because we dont even know most names of the parties and what they think in the programmes. But others said that many people who are 18 and older also dont know the parties and the programmes and they can vote!! 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️ 😵‍💫😵

What do you think? We dont have to do interviews but I am curious what you think.

Thank you a lot!! 🌺🌸 🙏🙏

might seem a bit extreme but I would say 21, 18 year olds have just become adult and I think they should have some experience with the adult world before being allowed to vote

Thank you isyes for your answer!! This is a very good opinion! I am curious what others think about it! 🙏🙏

Hi everybody, 🙋‍♀️

At school we have a class called in Dutch maatschappijleer (I think in English it is maybe translated society study). And we have an assignment but it is not for a grade. It is only for discussion we have in the class on Monday.

We have to think about age and votes. Today in my country people vote for European Parlement. And you can only vote if you are 1️⃣8️⃣ or older. Now the question that we discuss is do you think that it should be ok to vote if you are 13 and older? Or maybe 16 and older? Or keep like 18 and older?

Almost everybody in my class said yes that also at 13 and older you can vote because we also have opinions. But together with one other in my class i think no because we dont even know most names of the parties and what they think in the programmes. But others said that many people who are 18 and older also dont know the parties and the programmes and they can vote!! 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️ 😵‍💫😵

What do you think? We dont have to do interviews but I am curious what you think.

Thank you a lot!! 🌺🌸 🙏🙏

18

Thank you Lir_Elhan that would be really good idea, but I dont think teachers want to do that. And every class is like a chicken farm with noise. 🐥🐥🐔 I would like to learn meditation because is also important in Buddhism.

And Lorenzo thank you for your answer. But why do you think 18? Because a lot of voters they also dont know the parties and the programmes. Or do you think that isyes is right and should be like 21 even? 💁‍♀️ Molto grazie!! 🙏🙏

18 because a lot of voters dont know the parties and the programmes.

At 13 or 16, your ideas will change a lot. You will follow your friends, some trends, others opinions probably more than trying to build one yourself and, more than anything, you are probably still pampered by your family and society. In my case, at 15, I had very different views on the world and, albeit fundamental basis, it changed a lot when I saw more of the world.

Actually, even at 18, many people are influencable and just do what they are told to do or go against their own interest (plus our brain still change till our mid twenties from what I remember). On my part, I would go further and simply suggest that people shouldn't vote at all, especially when we see what the so called "democracy" leads us to. Not to mention that even when people try to vote in their interests, our leaders find a way to violate our choice.

It may sound weird to answer to this since i‘m young too but here is my opinion:
I think young people like 16 should vote because i think they have a right to choose it too but another reason they should be older would be that they are just too young for it i think and they should have some experience in this because they maybe not take it seriously or something
So i think they should be at least 20

Thank you very much Lianshen for your message! I have a question. If voting is not good because of what you said, what would be the different system? Maybe only some experts that they can vote? Or like a king that he really has control? Or maybe a different way? 👑💁‍♀️

And thank you also Emmi for your answer!! But if you can only vote if you are 20 or older because of the experience, do you think people can vote even if they dont know the parties and the programmes? Because now there is not a test before you vote so then can do it even if they dont know anything really about the parties. 💁‍♀️

Thank you both!!! 🥰🙏🙏

Thank you very much Lianshen for your message! I have a question. If voting is not good because of what you said, what would be the different system? Maybe only some experts that they can vote? Or like a king that he really has control? Or maybe a different way? 👑💁‍♀️

And thank you also Emmi for your answer!! But if you can only vote if you are 20 or older because of the experience, do you think people can vote even if they dont know the parties and the programmes? Because now there is not a test before you vote so then can do it even if they dont know anything really about the parties. 💁‍♀️

Thank you both!!! 🥰🙏🙏

I don’t know if it’s on normal ballot paper (sry if it’s not the word for it lol) but i think they could write down a reason why they want to choose this party

Thank you very much Lianshen for your message! I have a question. If voting is not good because of what you said, what would be the different system? Maybe only some experts that they can vote? Or like a king that he really has control? Or maybe a different way? 👑💁‍♀️
These could be solutions. Experts voting/ruling is a technocracy basically, but I wouldn't be convinced by it either for the governments labelled as such don't really show good results...
Monarchy could be possible and has some serious good points compared to democracy, like stability, coherence, potentially less weak to corruption, haivng a ruler who has been educated to rule... but if you get a bad ruler, then you are in trouble.

Other ones could be epistocracy (the government is made of people with (political) knowledge), meritocracy (ruled by the ones who deserve, throug ability). I won't make a list, but there are others as well.

They all have some advantages and disadvantages

Hi everybody, 🙋‍♀️

At school we have a class called in Dutch maatschappijleer (I think in English it is maybe translated society study). And we have an assignment but it is not for a grade. It is only for discussion we have in the class on Monday.

We have to think about age and votes. Today in my country people vote for European Parlement. And you can only vote if you are 1️⃣8️⃣ or older. Now the question that we discuss is do you think that it should be ok to vote if you are 13 and older? Or maybe 16 and older? Or keep like 18 and older?

Almost everybody in my class said yes that also at 13 and older you can vote because we also have opinions. But together with one other in my class i think no because we dont even know most names of the parties and what they think in the programmes. But others said that many people who are 18 and older also dont know the parties and the programmes and they can vote!! 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️ 😵‍💫😵

What do you think? We dont have to do interviews but I am curious what you think.

Thank you a lot!! 🌺🌸 🙏🙏

Personally, I believe that one should be an adult, because the world is quite complex. Voting in the European Parliament isn't a simple task. The experience of minors isn't sufficient to take on such an important responsibility.

It was shocking how much teenagers vote for right parties.

It was shocking how much teenagers vote for right parties.
yeah