Letters: Voting comes with responsibility

Readers argue being of voting age comes with adult responsibilities. Photo / Bevan Conley

I am not in favour of 16-year-olds voting as I see it as an election ploy. However, if 16-year-olds were allowed to vote, then all the privileges that they have like being treated in the youth court for their mistakes [should] be removed. Basically, if you, at 16, want adult rules, then from that age, adult life rules apply without exemptions. You go to prison for your offending.

GRAHAM HOLLOWAY

Whanganui East

Education more important than vote

Teana Macdonald, in her article, seems to put great faith in our teenagers to right the world by giving them the vote because they are smart and have the answers.

If our teenagers are so smart, why are so many of them set on entering adulthood without an education? Smart people, young and old, know education is needed to forge ahead in life. We also know education is different for different young people.

There is the group where academia suits their learning and life ambitions. Then there are those for whom learning skills is what suits their learning and life ambitions, so all need to be catered for.

We need charter and technical schools as well as schools that cater for academia. We have a problem - the teachers’ union, backed by the Labour party, is not interested, so successful charter schools are banned.

I don’t believe they are actually against these schools but are against anyone being an educator who does have teacher training. The best teachers for charter schools and technical colleges are people who have been trained in skills as apprentices; skilled people who have actually taught plenty of apprentices, very successfully, but are very unlikely to join the left-wing teachers’ union.

Banning these schools does not help these kids, but solves the political problem.

Kids have enough on their plate to set themselves up for a satisfactory adulthood without worrying about voting. Most of them won’t anyhow. A lot of time and energy is being wasted on something that will not improve their lot.

GARTH SCOWN

Whanganui