Should minors have greater rights?

[loyalsister]

11. It's about social groups

18 year olds are still in HS where they interact with students who are much younger. The fact that many young people can get booze does not make it a good idea to increase that opportunity. There is a serious problem with adolescents soaking their brains and creating some limitations to their later development. No sense in adding to the numbers IMO. I have a bias as a person who has seen these effects personally.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122765890

I blame it on permissive overindulgent tendencies that are so prevalent in American culture. If we behaved more sensibly I think that we could operate in a way that would allow for mature use at younger ages. Sadly we don't and I don't see that changing.

As for consent there are similar problems with having older more emotionally and physically developed students socially engaged with those who are younger and less mature.
Two things are not going to change are our school social arrangement and particularly the tendency toward overindulgence. I see gray area but it seems that it can only be addressed with definitive age limits.

I guess if we ask that question we should also consider what qualifies as a right. Does a person have a "right" to pollute their body with cigarettes at 13? Even if we say yes, is it too out of line to think that maybe it is wise to protect kids from pursuing bad decisions that actually may affect their development?

It's an interesting question.