Analysis: Civic Engagement And The Transition To Adulthood

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Adulthood pathway

A lot of controversies exist about what age a person should be considered a legal adult. An adult is a person who has attained the age of majority or maturity. The age of majority is the legally defined age at which a person is considered an adult, with all the attendant rights and responsibilities of adulthood. The question is: At what age should a person be considered a legal adult? Is it at sixteen (never too early to start paying bills), eighteen (Democrats and Republicans favorite this age) or twenty-one (Bars and beers?) Eighteen- years old should be the right age to consider a person as a legal adult. I stand with the Democrats and Republicans for three reasons.

The first reason is, at eighteen years old a person has attained the age of maturity in the way to think, to act and to face responsibilities. According to Thomas E. Keller, Gretchen Ruth Cusick, and Mark E. Courtney, “The transition to adulthood is marked by new roles and responsibilities in such interrelated domains as education, employment, and family formation.” It is the time to think about the future, get prepared to attend college and to choose a career. At this age a person has to make mature decisions and to think about the consequences of all his acts such as contractual obligations or liability and to participate in civic matters. For example, a person may be sued by others on a contract he signed (“Sue”, USA big time favorite words). Also he is eligible for jury duty. At this age all males must register with Selective Services. It is the right time to face and see life from a different angle and see it with the eyes of a grown person. “During the transition from adolescence to adulthood, increasing maturity comes with expectations that one will take responsibility for oneself, make independent decisions, and become self‐sufficient” (Arnett 2000). Second reason: at this age a person is fully prepared and grown enough to accept all the full legal rights
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He can legally work; can apply for credit in his or her own name, take civic engagement such as: Active membership in a group or association, community problem solving and regular volunteering for a non-electoral organization. In their book, “Civic Engagement and the Transition to Adulthood” Constance Flanagan and Peter Levine maintain that “Civic engagement is important both for the functioning of democracies and for the growth and maturation it encourages in young adults.”(Sounds really good on paper) This person has the right to vote and can marry or sign contracts. He also has the right to give sexual consent and to join the army. At eighteen a person can make his own end- of- life decision, can be an organ donor and can legally obtain medical treatment without parental consent. An adult can make any kind of decision without parental consent.

The final reason is, a parent of an eighteen -year -old is under no legal pressure to continue to provide housing, care or support. This person will be pushed towards adulthood and will start to solve problems; by solving problems he will become independent. So at this age a person is able to face the reality of life and will develop all the right characteristics of a grown adult without the help of his parents. At this point, he can face obligations and develop the sense of responsibilities as a legal adult, and will be aware and be able to give great responses to all the

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