I STARTED my A-levels at the beginning of the new school year, but only one of my chosen subjects is entirely new to me.
Politics. It’s the lesson that has seen me earn the nickname Worcester News, which can be hurled at me any time for either praise or reprimand.
The other day I pursed my lips after being told we had a test that lesson, only to be asked: “If that’s all right with you, Worcester News?”.
Despite the name-calling across Mr Freeman’s politics classroom, I have actually been learning something during the lessons.
One of the topics we touched upon the other day was the lowering of the voting age to 16 years old.
I am sure that you expect me to say that I actively support this, and that I should be given the right to have a say on who governs our country.
After all, if someone my age can join the Army and die for this country, than surely we have a right decide who is in charge of Great Britain.
To even my own surprise, I disagree.
I don’t believe that I yet know enough about the world to decide who is best qualified to govern our country.
I literally know nothing about the economy, and very little about tax and the EU.
It doesn’t seem fair that someone as naive as me should be given a vote until my opinion is educated enough to count.
I feel people my age should be prevented from voting.
We don’t really understand the full impact of putting a cross in a box.
One may argue that plenty of adults actually don’t really know what they’re voting for and how their vote will affect them in the long run, but that’s irrelevant.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, so we may as well limit the number of uneducated people voting as much as possible.
There will be plenty of parents who will read this and say that their son/daughter is more than capable of understanding the finer details of our economy and which party can boost it the most.
Of course, there will always be exceptions to the rule, but while keeping the doors firmly shut we can stop 16 year olds voting on something they know little or nothing about.
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