Youre 16, Youre Beautiful and Youre a Voter - Essay Example

The article entitled “You’re 16, You’re Beautiful and You’re a Voter” written by Anya Kamenetz and published in The New York Times on the 6th of February, 2008 proffered pertinent issues relative to recommending lowering the voting age to 16. Kamenetz intended to support this thesis through the use of rationalization, logical appeal, comparative examples, and citing relevant statistics, as deemed applicable. However, Kamentez’s arguments were weak as the discourse briefly discussed the benefits and costs of recommending lowering the voting age to 16.

Initially, Kamenetz rationalized that legal age requirements must be flexible depending on circumstances, and valid endeavors and supplemented with specifically identified requirements. As averred, “legal age requirements should never stand alone. They should be flexible and pragmatic and paired with educational and cognitive requirements for the exercise of legal maturity” (Kamenetz par. 4).

Using cognitive faculties, the author progressed by using logical appeals by citing credible contemporary practices. One of the valid supports presented legal regulations in driving. As disclosed, driving laws epitomized the best model for justifying that an early orientation to driving classes would result in more positive outcomes, especially in terms of lesser fatal crashes. The statistics cited were sourced from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety which conducted a study that revealed that “the most restrictive of these programs are associated with a 38 percent reduction in fatal crashes among the youngest drivers” (Kamenetz par. 5).

Using parallelism, the author expounded the early driving permit example to potentially include its application to voting through a proposed early voting permit. As suggested, a preliminary civics course could be used as a standard requirement for passing to qualify a young citizen to enforce the right to vote.

The author further explored the applicability of empowering youngsters to expand their rights, not only to voting, but to include areas such as drinking, marriage, and responsible use of credit cards to manage financial obligations. The author indicated that “in reality, this is already when most people have their first jobs, their first drinks, and their sexual initiations. The law ought to empower young people to negotiate these transitions openly, not furtively” (Kamenetz par. 7). However, the author failed to provide any counter-arguments to balance the proposed expansion of empowering teenagers to these activities.

The strengths of the author in supporting the contentions lie in the effective selection of examples which were effectively backed by reliable sources. The essay was structured in a clear and logical manner that flowed well. The tone was appropriate and formal to effectively manifest professionalism in treating the advocated lowering of the voting age. There was no eminent overly expressed intention to use emotional appeal and therefore, the strategy of using logical appeal enhanced the author’s credibility in promoting the advocated cause.

One noted weakness was the failure of the author to effectively reference the cited sources (such as the study published by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety). Moreover, there was a cited statistical figure in the concluding paragraph which was not appropriately cited: “Demographically, those over 85 are our fastest-growing group. By 2020, the entire nation will be about as silver-haired as Florida is today” (Kamenetz par. 11). These statements need citations to enable readers to verify their authenticity and reliability. Further, the concluding portion focused more on the threat or risks posed by the aging population that did not tie at all to the author’s thesis statement. There was a lack of expounding support for recommending young teenagers at the earliest age of 16 to vote by either providing advantages and also balancing the discourse with eminent disadvantages.

Overall, the author failed to persuade the audience to support the contentions for failure to provide enough justifications that would effectively provide the cost and benefits analysis of lowering the voting age to voters and the economy, as a whole. By providing other examples that apparently justify empowering teenagers to pursue other endeavors enjoyed by adults, Kamenetz's arguments lost focus and the conclusion itself was not even tied to the main argument that the author was supposed to support.