A federal election just took place, electing Mark Carney as the 24th Prime Minister of Canada. This sparked interest in many high school students, who are nearing the minimum voting age and are eager to cast their ballots. However, high school students shouldn’t be allowed to vote because they lack maturity and life experience, have limited political knowledge, and are easily influenced by others.
Most high school students haven’t even taken on responsibilities like working, filing taxes, and paying bills. They don’t know enough about the economy or how different policies will affect their daily lives. These are some of the most important factors to be considered when choosing who to vote for, and kids in high school don’t understand the long term effects of government policies. Also, high school students’ emotions aren’t fully developed, which makes them more impulsive decision makers. If someone can go from laughing to crying within the span of 5 minutes because their crush left them on read, they aren’t ready to vote for the future of our country.
“I would just vote for whoever sounds the most confident,” says Grade 11 high school student Jeev Dhanjal, proving many students have baseless political opinions.
Another factor to consider is that teens are easily influenced. Education on civics and politics is limited in high school, so students fall to other sources of information. They may make decisions solely based on what their parents or friends are doing. Teens may fall into peer pressure instead of basing their vote on personal beliefs. Since they are so malleable and present on social media, influencers can also play a huge role in controlling youth. High schoolers already copy everything their favorite social media influencer does, so why wouldn’t they share the same political opinion when they don’t have one of their own.
People under the age of 18 aren’t able to do a lot of things. In Ontario, you can’t sign contracts, serve on juries, or be tried as an adult in court. All of these exceptions are made based on the maturity of people under this age. If teenagers aren’t ready for these responsibilities, it makes sense for them to also not be ready to make a decision to vote for an outcome that will affect the entire nation.
While the voices of the youth are important, there are many concerns that don’t justify lowering the voting age. Limited life experience and the ongoing mental development of high school students hinder their ability to make informed political decisions. Their susceptibility to peer pressure can skew the results of elections, with many votes being influenced by third parties. High school students just aren’t ready to vote for the future of Canada, yet.
Photo Credits: Bal D.
THE NORTH STAR 