There is much discussion nowadays as to whether or not society should accept that children mature at a younger age these days by allowing them to make decisions about their lives with out the interference of their parents or teachers, and the law should be adjusted or modified accordingly. As law is brought into the matter, it certainly merits our close attention and prudent action. In my opinion, we should not go as far as that.
In the first place, for most teenagers, mental and social maturity has not been sufficiently achieved. It is true that improved living standards and the consequent dietetic excellence have brought about the physical prematurity of teenagers. Yet, most of them fail to be mentally or socially mature. All too often credulousness and thoughtlessness subject them to impetuous and wanton acts. The disparity between physical and mental maturity necessitate proper and timely guidance from their parents or teachers. And legal validation of their immature behavior will do harm to society as well as to themselves.
Second, decision making power granted at an earlier age involves the possibility of being held legally liable at an earlier age.It is a widely acknowledged rule that in a civilized and democratic society rights and obligations should be shaped equal or proportionate to each other. The right to decision making entails torresponding assumption of certain responsibility. That is to say,negative interests as well as positive ones resulting from their behavior should be shouldered. A case in point is capital punishment, whose application is otherwise confined to adults above 18 may now cover 16 year-olds. It is a well established rule that it is unfair to impose punishment on one who is mentally inade quate to understand his or her behavior because the punishment of law should only go to those who have knowledge of their behavior.
In addition, the withdrawal of parental interference will prove impracticable and negative in the present Chinese society,which has always been heavily family oriented. The traditional Chinese family pattern holds it that parental decision is to be observed and the freedom of children is to be limited. Today, a Chinese child's dependence on his parents remains strong. As lawmaking should take into account possible social effects of a certain adjustment, the legal stipulation at issue will not yield
desirable results against above mentioned social background.
In fact, the question at issue is not whether children over 15 should be allowed to make decisions on their own but whether or not certain laws should be changed to cater for it. In view of all the foregoing factors, I firmly hold that the granting of exclusive decision making power to children over 15 through the adjustment of certain laws in China will prove undesirable, from which good results are not to be expected.
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