In 1971, the 26th Amendment was added to the Constitution. This amendment
lowered the voting age from 21, to 18.
Today, some people are considering lowering the voting age past the age of 18,
to 16, and possibly 14. What do you think? Should the voting age be lowered?
Using the websites listed, research articles related to this topic. Then, based
on your research, create a FIVE PARAGRAPH PERSUASIVE ESSAY that discusses
whether or not you thnk the voting age should be lowered. You must make sure
that your essay has a:
1. Strong Introduction that explains your position clearly
2. Strong Conclusion that accurately summarizes your position
3. A minimum of THREE body paragraphs that help support your position
Assignment Due Date: This assignment is due NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY JANUARY 10, 2007
GRADING: This assignment will be graded as a test, and count towards
your second trimester mark. Students failing to hand in the assignment on, or
before January 10, 2007 will receive a grade of ZERO.
LINKS:
http://www.connectforkids.org/node/3140?&tn=hp/lf/3
http://www.youthrights.org/votingage.php
http://www.freechild.org/SNAYR/suffrage.htm
http://www.voteat16.com/
Good Luck! See you Wednesday!
1 comment:
Youths Calling
You wake up one morning happy. It is a relief to you that it’s Election Day. It’s one of the many times of the year when you get off of school for practically doing nothing. But why is it that kids aren’t glued onto the screens as sometimes presidential elections set off. Isn’t it an extremely life changing event. Too most kids no it isn’t a big deal. And yet many teens are demanding that times have changed and older kids have the ability to make perfectly great decisions. They demand that the voting age is changed. I personally believe that lowering the voting age anymore will be extremely reckless and will have many people who have know true idea what their voting for vote.
To begin with, teens are easily fooled. It isn’t easy to admit this, but there was a time I would believe everything the newspaper told me. For a teen the newspaper has no lies. You assume that the views of the journalist are unbiased. But sadly many personal or political reasons distort the truths of the newspaper. As a result many teens end up being told propaganda. Also there are many teens that get their political views from their parents. This isn’t good because what we want are opinions not a second vote for parents. Then there are advertisements. A good commercial could sway a teen’s vote in a second. Sadly we don’t exert much effort into looking into things.
In addition, there are many kids who don’t really care about politics. For this experiment I decided to bring up politics to my many friends. Most of them said they didn’t care or it didn’t pertain to them. How can we give voting rights to people who don’t even plan to use them? They will be easy targets for people to sway. A simple commercial or promise can get many of these votes.
However many teens argue that there are many adults who are just as clueless as teens. This may be true, but there is one factor kids don’t put in. You see adults have to pay many things such as living expenses and bills. So most usually choose presidents who are in favor in the industry they are in. So if a president plans to reform the oil industry and you work for it then this might make you want to vote against him. This makes you actually have reasoning for voting a president in. Teens however don’t have this reasoning and in the end it usually dictates the votes for people.
I am not saying that all teens are completely unable to make right voting decisions. Its just the odds are against us. We need much more experience and reasoning before making decisions that can change our lives completely. In conclusion, the congress shouldn’t lower the voting age due to the fact that teens don’t have the full experience of living on there own and what wisdom it brings.
Post a Comment