4 ms·
The issue comes down to the legal and moral definition of consent. How old must a child be until they are wholly fit to make their own decisions? How do you de
by hack_edu 14y ago
The issue comes down to the legal and moral definition of consent.
How old must a child be until they are wholly fit to make their own decisions? How do you define public policy around this, written to incorporate the whole of the public and not just the outliers? It is absolutely impossible to try to give special exceptions on such a large scale. This leads states to define a minimum age at which a child can give full consent and be legally bound to contracts.
- shrughes 14y agoWe send children to school without their consent.
- baddox 14y agoIn fact, we force parents to send children to school without their consent.
- ams6110 14y agoWe compel education. We don't mandate sending children to school.
- king_jester 14y agoThis can be argued to be morally unethical, although some people don't see it that way, but that has more to do with how people view children both as people and property.
- randomdata 14y agoChildren of any age are legally able to work on farms owned or operated by their parents, which would disagree with your premise. If parents are able to legally assume consent for their children to work on the farm, they would be able to consent for all employment opportunities. For what it is worth, working on the farm as a youngster brings some of my fondest memories of childhood. I find it rather sad that people outside of the agriculture communities do not have similar opportunities until they grow older.
- doctorpangloss 14y agoI think to be more accurate, you mean to say that since children can't consent, who will consent on their behalf? A freely elected government generally does, since the state protects children in the same way it protects the mentally handicapped. States don't just define a minimum age of consent. They consent on behalf of children. In that sense, we can compel them to go to school "without their consent," so to speak, because the state is the only institution that can really legitimately claim to consent on their behalf. The state has stronger claims over children in some cases than their parents do.