In today' s world the age for adulthood varies from one country to another. while a number of countries hold eighteen years as the right age for adulthood, others dispute with this. But is age the absolute metric to decide adulthood? I believe that age should not be the only criterea to label an individual as an adult. This essay will first analyze both camps and point out the flaws in the current age based systems and later suggest a better way to decide adulthood.
Firstly, from a biological perspective development of an individual is heavily dependent on factors like the diet they consume and the climate they live in. These factors directly impact the production of testosterone and estrogen, which are two of the major hormones responsible for adulthood, in a human being there by affecting their mental and physical growth. For example, according to a study conducted by American Health Association a sample of 100 16 year old girls from texas showed the same level of physical and emotional maturity as 18 year olds from 10 other states in the USA, which led to the Texas government reducing the legal age of marriage to 16. Unfortunately, the purely age based qualification system among countries does not take all these factors into account and thus are flawed in a way and needs improvement.
However, a better way would be if the governments around the world start considering their citizens on an individual basis and not set an age for adulthood. For instance, authorities around the world can design a test which would assess an individual' s mental and physical maturity level, and label them as adults based on their test scores. This would be fruitful to both the society and individuals in numerous ways. To name one benefit, qualified adults will be taking part in voting resulting in capable leaders. Thus countries around the world should not only depend on age and follow a more efficient method as mentioned above.
To conclude, age based systems are not the most optimal way to determine adulthood and the idea of setting age be it 18 or any number above for this cannot be supported. Thus those in charge should move on to new methods like test based systems.
In
today&
#039; s
world
the
age
for adulthood varies from one
country
to another.
while
a number of
countries
hold eighteen years as the right
age
for adulthood, others dispute with this.
But
is
age
the absolute metric to decide adulthood? I believe that
age
should not be the
only
criterea
to label an
individual
as an adult. This essay will
first
analyze both camps and point out the flaws in the
current
age
based
systems
and later suggest a better way to decide adulthood.
Firstly
, from a biological perspective development of an
individual
is
heavily
dependent on factors like the diet they consume and the climate they
live
in. These factors
directly
impact the production of testosterone and estrogen, which are two of the major hormones responsible for adulthood, in a human being there by affecting their mental and physical growth.
For example
, according to a study conducted by American Health Association a sample of 100 16 year
old
girls from
texas
showed
the same level of physical and emotional maturity as
18 year olds
from 10 other states in the USA, which led to the Texas
government
reducing the legal
age
of marriage to 16. Unfortunately, the
purely
age
based qualification
system
among
countries
does not take all these factors into account and
thus
are flawed
in a way and needs improvement.
However
, a better way would be if the
governments
around the
world
start
considering their citizens on an
individual
basis and not set an
age
for adulthood.
For instance
, authorities around the
world
can design a
test
which would assess an
individual&
#039; s mental and physical maturity level, and label them as adults based on their
test
scores. This would be fruitful to both the society and
individuals
in numerous ways. To name one benefit, qualified adults will be taking part in voting resulting in capable leaders.
Thus
countries
around the
world
should not
only
depend on
age
and follow a more efficient method as mentioned above.
To conclude
,
age
based
systems
are not the most optimal way to determine adulthood and the
idea
of setting
age
be it 18 or any number above for this cannot
be supported
.
Thus
those in charge should
move
on to new methods like
test
based
systems
.