European Parliament elections: 22 to 25 May 2014

Click HERE to read the Wikipedia article!

Click HERE for the European Parliament website!

Click HERE to read an article from the Economist!

USA vs EU?

Free trade...

The USA takes the EU Parliament seriously...

Are you really ready to vote at 16?

Click HERE to read an article from The Guardian!
Click HERE to read an article from sp!ked!
Click HERE to read an article from DEBATE.ORG!
Click HERE to read an article from The Telegraph!
Bored with politics or just lazy?

Assignment:

Prepare, with the help of two friends, a 60-second speech FOR or AGAINST the following proposition: "The voting age for the European Parliament elections should be lowered to 16."

Here are some quotes to inspire you:

Sadiq Khan, member of the Labour Party in UK: Getting the public into the habit of voting is clearly a key part of any solution if we are to raise the numbers of those who participate in elections. We need to get people hooked on voting at an early age because the evidence shows if you vote when you first become eligible you're more likely to keep on voting for the rest of your life. Don't vote when you're young and you're more likely to never vote.

Jay Giedd of the US National Institute of Mental Health: It’s sort of unfair to expect [teenagers] to have adult levels of organisational skills or decision-making before their brains are built.

Ed West in The Telegraph: Apart from the fact that most do not work, and so do not have the same stake in society nor understand how taxes work, they are not as well informed as the adult population, are less likely to vote and, if they do, are more easily manipulated.

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach: In youth we learn; in age we understand.

Aristotle: Good habits formed at youth make all the difference.

Mary McLeod Bethune: We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends.

Jonathan Swift: Invention is the talent of youth, as judgment is of age.

Marshall McLuhan: American youth attributes much more importance to arriving at driver's license age than at voting age.