By Emily Anne Espinosa |Staff Writer|
When I turned 18, it was a huge celebration: family and friends came from all over to celebrate my arrival into womanhood, my rite of passage for becoming an adult.
While the celebration meant a lot to me, I woke up the next day feeling the same; I still felt like a clueless teenager, who only cared about fashion and boys.
At 18, you are legally allowed to do several things: you can vote in elections, register for the military, and buy a car on your own—all without a parent’s consent.
In the eyes of the law, you are legally an adult, which also means you are now responsible for your own actions.
Others may argue that 18 is still too young; one reason for this is because scientifically, the brain is not fully developed at this age.
Adolescence does not end until age 25, when your brain is expected to be fully developed, according to Urmc.rochester.edu.
Young adults are able to register to vote, purchase and own property, enlist in the military, get married, get sued, go to jail, make a will, consent to medical treatment, and enter into binding contracts; all of which are very serious decisions and responsibilities.
It seems impractical to be legally responsible for adult decisions at 18, seven years before your brain is fully developed.
On the other hand, if you raise legal adulthood age and tell teenagers that they are too young to make proper decisions, it gives them an excuse to be childish and immature.
“After turning 18, learning to be independent and doing things on your own is good because as you grow older, it only gets harder and we all need to have that rite of passage in life,” said student, Andrei Parala.
Even if a person’s brain is not fully developed yet, if you treat them as adults, then they will be more conscious of their actions and consequences.
Another argument is that at 18, one has not lived long enough or had enough experiences.
Most people have just graduated from or are still in high school.
“Many people are still fixated at making decisions in the moment and not thinking of the consequences,” said student, Shanelle Versoza.
I still considered myself a kid;I did not know anything about politics, what I wanted to do for a career, how I felt about sex, drugs, and alcohol. I’m now 20-years-old and still don’t know.
I did not have developed opinions about these things until I enrolled in college, started taking classes that mattered to me, and started to have discussions with other students and adults about topics that were considered taboo in high school.
So how can you expect an 18-year-old teenager to be completely responsible for their actions, when just the year before, they were barely able to watch rated R movies by themselves and had their parents sign off on all their actions?
18-year-olds are still adolescents that are still growing intellectually and physically, they can not be held responsible for life-changing decisions that could drastically result in consequences that would continue to impact them for the rest of their lives.
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