Academics promote voting rights for children

CITIZENSHIP

Academics promote voting rights for children

Published: 11 Mar 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Here's a novel way to address the problems caused by rising income inequality: give children the vote.

About 5,000 students join an anti-drug campaign at Impact Muang Thong Thani. Although public policies affect children’s well-being and their future, they are still denied the fundamental right of citizenship: the right to vote. TAWATCHAI KEMGUMNERD

One virtue of this iconoclastic idea, recently advanced by the Canadian economist Miles Corak, is that it sidesteps the usual partisan debates. After all, the right and left have profound moral disagreements about economic inequality. But whatever your political stripe, you almost certainly believe in equality of opportunity.

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djay
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Discussion 7 : 11 Mar 2013 at 22.297
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So instead of directly addressing the growing income gap disparity someone would try to give kids the right to vote. Every once in a while it is embarrassing to be an academic.
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ringmaster
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Discussion 6 : 11 Mar 2013 at 21.596
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Giving children the right to vote is the mother of all bad ideas. They're just not at a stage in their development to make responsible choices for themselves and they'd just be preyed upon by adults seeking their votes. I like D4's plan of mock votes for children in that it educates them about democracy and how important it is to take their votes seriously.
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bangmodken
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Discussion 5 : 11 Mar 2013 at 13.185
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D1 : "The whole idea of reaching voting age is to try to ensure that the voter has some sort of education and ability to reach rational conclusions based on information ingested".

Catch 22. Education here is a joke and information is mostly biased by one of the two political parties in the current divide,which renders it impossible even for adults to reach any rational conclusions whatsoever.
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whatajoke
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Discussion 4 : 11 Mar 2013 at 11.214
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Some of the teenagers in this country would be far more trust worthy to make informed choices than the elderly uneducated, so long as you could encourage them (and they are keen to participate) to vote independent of their parents or village community influence. Of course, it wouldn't be long before dodgy politicians unscrupulously target this group with populist promises (free phone for everyone).
But a mock vote would be a very sensible idea to prepare the next generation for a better democratic process. Let them choose junior representatives, free of party politics.
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pjt
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Discussion 3 : 11 Mar 2013 at 09.283
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Three problems (not just in Thailand) - the children would still be voting for adults who are pursuing their own agendas; even adults fail to see through the populist policies of politicians; the children do not pay tax. In Thailand specifically I would add a lack of debate, discussion or exercise of critical thinking in our education system. Here is how this idea might be used positively (not just Thailand) which is for time to be set aside in schools for proper discussion and debate on major topics of the day - leading to a local vote. The result intended is better developed voters once they reach majority
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bedouin
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Discussion 2 : 11 Mar 2013 at 04.552
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Why should children vote? They have no inherent wisdom, especially based on the pitiful Thai educational system. The present government proves that even adults lack the smarts to vote.
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mattaya
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Discussion 1 : 11 Mar 2013 at 03.041
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Bollocks!
The whole idea of reaching voting age is to try to ensure that the voter has some sort of education and ability to reach rational conclusions based on information ingested. Children will do what their parents tell them to do ( in most cases ) this will lead to the 10 kid welfare mothers to have 10 more votes, which will lead to more hand out etc. spiraling taxes and an end to modern society as we know it. Hello welfare state.
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Academics promote voting rights for children | Bangkok Post: opinion