When you're 18, you're considered a legal adult, and not only are you able to legally smoke, but you're also able to leave your parents and live on your own. So if you get into trouble with the law, your parents are no longer responsible. I still don't fully understand why 18 is the age, though, that you're considered an adult. At ages 18 and 19, you're still a teenager (it's even in the ages -- eighteen and nineteen) and therefore not an adult. Why isn't it more like at age 20 (young adult) you can move out, legally smoke and drink, have sex and whatever else "adults" do? Thoughts?
I think eighteen is a completely acceptable age. It's not about being accountable for what you do but the freedoms that come with it. Sure, you are held accountable for anything you do but that's your choice to make. Plenty of kids well under eighteen get emancipation and move out on their own. You're better off than trying to go out into the world at fifteen or younger. At eighteen you should be pretty close to full development both physically and mentally, though seeing a lot of the idiot guys I know I'd have to think that over. If you're going to be stupid then you're going to be stupid. Two years won't make a difference. We learn from experience and that's what life is, an experience. Not everyone moves out of the house at eighteen anymore anyway. With the economy the way it is most kids are staying home. As a note, you should be more specific when making threads like this. In some countries kids leave the house at fourteen. You should consider yourself thankful that you aren't plunged into the real world any sooner. I could also go on to say that it's part of the development process. Think about it like this ... If you move out at twenty and your brain is even closer to being fully developed (though I'd argue that it should be fully developed a lot earlier than that) then you're less likely to adapt to the sudden change a phenomena I like to call "real-world-itis". At eighteen you're still learning, still adapting. You're more inclined to accept change. So all in all, eighteen is a pretty good age for stepping out into the real world. If you wait too long you might not be able to cope with the change. If you go to early it can be too stressful on you. Eighteen is middle ground and I'd argue it's the best age to be considered an adult. By then you should be waking up and smelling the roses. Take one last big sniff because life is full of thorns you have to get past to reach your goals.
Just to clarify, I never said it was not acceptable. I just don't understand how a person is considered an "adult" at age 18 if at ages 18 and 19, they're still a teenager, which, as I said, is even in the ages -- eighTEEN and nineTEEN.
You're allowed to enlist for combat and die for your country at 18, as well as cast a vote for who you want the leader of the country to be, so Eighteen is considered an adult primarily because you get granted effectively the same rights and level of decisions as someone who's out of their teens.
I assume the legal age bar got lowered over the years, as it was in my country, to the point of overlaping with the years previously labeled as teen years. I think in the US you still have a few things where the legal age hasn' t been lowered as much (drinking age, a few things regarding car insurance etc ...). Physiologically speaking 25 would be more like it though. It sure feels like it was the case for me (even though I left my parents' house at 18).
Why 18? To be honest, I think the country just assumes that you're able to act like an adult, think like an adult, and do what responsible adults do. But that's hardly ever going to happen these days is it?
