Human rights as they apply to kids... good idea. I think this is a great topic. (Which, of course, is why I'm chiming in! YES..it's long. I'm good for that! For those of you who slog through this and read it all, congrats!)
Let's stop for a minute though, and think about what we're calling 'rights' here. I see the topic going over things like being able to work, drink, drive, etc. Something I must say though, is all these cool things adults get to do, like drink, drive cars, own guns, work a 40 hour week... those aren't rights. Those are privileges. All of these things can be lost. There's no law that says when you turn some magical age that you have the RIGHT to drink, the RIGHT to drive, the RIGHT to slave 40 hours a week at a job you can't stand but have to go to because you gotta pay the bills. But you do, usually by law, have the opportunity to do those things. The privilege, if you will.
For the sake of example:
You can't even get behind the wheel legally unless you prove you know your stuff...doesn't matter if you're 18 or 81, if you fail that test, no driving for you. Beyond that, you screw up, you can lose that license real quick. You can lose your job, or not even find one. No one is the world is required to hire you if they don't want to, or if you don't have the skills they need. If you abuse alcohol, and get caught, there can be serious repercussions. Even if you are considered and adult by the government, no human being is going to look at a drunk driver who causes an accident and say, "Oh well it's his right to drink." Sure it may be his right to do what he pleases, it may be his privilege to drive and to drink, but ask your self this: does he have the right or even privilege to endanger others? Does that drunk driver have the right to cause an accident, or hurt someone? Of course not. His butt goes to jail. If we look at things realistically, kids do have the same rights as adults, they just don't get the same privileges until they get older. Some kids could very easily handle some adult privileges before 18. Others are the type that turn 18 and STILL shouldn't have those rights. I mean, really, some adults... well... they're nutjobs.
Something else we should all realize about kids: we try to protect them because we know they are the future of our society. If we don't ensure the safety and education of children, we'll end up with a lot of defunct adults. Society doesn't function too well when your population can't tell their butt from a hole in the ground.
I may be 'all grown up' now, but it wasn't THAT long ago when I was a minor. I remember how I felt and thought. I was an intelligent kid in a world of adults who acted as if I could never understand adult things just because of my age. Kids aren't stupid. I fully believe that because I remember what it was like. I believe that adults should realize that even though kids are still kids, they should be treated with respect and spoken to as befits their age and level of maturity. In a nutshell, I don't like it when adults treat kids like they're dumber than a box of rocks.
But I will say this: all that talk about how you'll change when you get older, how you'll mature and get wiser. It's true. Sucks, but it is. As I mentioned, I was a smart kid too, and I thought I knew it all because I could understand so much. What I lacked though, was the experience. I knew and understood so much without ever experiencing it for myself. In some circumstances, this can be a fine thing. Like choosing to not do drugs because you're mature and intelligent enough to know what they will do to your body. In other circumstances, there's just no comparison. Some parts of life must be lived and there's no way around it.
Most sensible adults could give a minor several reasons why kids don't get the same privileges as adults. There are pathological and social reasons galore. But think again, about what it was like to live ages ago. One, two, five hundred or even a thousand years ago. Once you got old enough so that you didn't have to be babysat constantly, you were put to work. Probably no education, or not much of one for you. Education, way back, wasn't a right. Or perhaps you'd be married, or even have kids of your own before you were 18. Heck, my grandpa who's in his 60's was stuck on the farm tractor before the age of seven. Can you imagine a seven year old operating dangerous farm machinery? Sounds crazy in this day and age. The bottom line though, is that society has changed. Our world and cultures have become much more complex. Way back when, even as soon as when some of our grandparents were young, you didn't need a lot of skills and experience to be a functional adult. Nowadays, though, it takes 20+ years for most people to learn the nuances of current social behavior and to educate themselves to the level that our complex society requires of us. Long gone are the days when you have all the life experience and skills to make it on your own by the time you're 15.
So for any of you smart kids out there reading this, stop and ask yourself yet another question. And be honest and true to yourself. Is being able to (insert cool adult privilege here) truly going to help me to become an even more mature, even smarter, and productive member of society? Is it really going to make me better? Or is this desire just material and superficial?
You guys are smart. Don't waste the time you have right now to a free education. Cliche, I know. But again, true true true. I have to tell you all, I'm a BIG supporter of education. And I'm NOT one to treat kids like idiots by sugarcoating things. School... it can suck. Royally. Being a kid can sometimes stink as well. Not all of us have or had wonderful understanding parents. It can especially be annoying when you're old enough and bright enough to see your future, to know what you want, but to still be too young to have the means to get yourself there. But if you're smart enough to know where you want to go in life, then you're also smart enough to know that the direct route isn't always the best choice. You're also smart enough to know that just as the world changes, so too will you. You'll learn new things your entire life, some of which will have surprising effects on you.
Don't wish to be grown up too soon, because in 100% honesty...it is NOT easy. Sure we adults can make it look good by being able to do and have what we want, but that is all on the surface. Just as there are some great 'adult' perks out there, there are just as many, if not more 'adult' worries, concerns, and problems. Please, prepare yourselves well for adulthood by educating yourself as best as you possibly can. You'll be an adult a lot longer than you are a child, and some of the choices you make early in adulthood can haunt you forever.
