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While I appreciate the interest of the young in important issues like civil rights, I must argue here the case against children.

To begin with, forgive me if my comments don't quite fit the United Kingdom model, as I am from the US. However, I highly doubt that thousands of years of research and parenting differ from one nation to the next.

You want to know why a 13 year old shouldn't be allowed to make his or her own decisions, watch whatever they want, etc. It is precisely because he is 13 years old. The mind of a teenager, though active and growing, is not mature. It is largely directed toward the desires of the body-which adults will tell you are very dangerous to give in to.

The "ones whose parents are cool," by the way, will not think that when they are thirty or forty and parents themselves. Instead, they will agonize over the inappropriate nature of their own upbringing and wonder how they dare raise children.

For those who want to argue this case, I urge you to consider the consequences. Once you are no longer a legal child, you are fully and completely responsible for your own actions. You cannot rescind a contract made in haste and foolishness. You cannot "act out" criminally and expect a mere slap on the wrist. You must support yourself, because it is inappropriate for an autonomous individual to depend on someone else for their needs. You shall cook your own food, do your own laundry, and pay your own insurance.

In short, you are asking to be a college student while still in high school.

Learn more about this author, Kerry Jacoby.
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