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At 18 most people are done with high school or about to graduate. Therefore ready to enter the labor market as full time employees, or enter college, or both. In theory, if you are ready to work, you can sustain yourself, therefore you own your destiny. Having the adulthood age at 18 have economical implications, since that also the age in which you can enter the financial market and establish credit history, enter the housing market (most likely as renters), and be overall consumers.
Also brain and behavioral development as Hank Green explains here.
Did something change in the 1800s that necessitated the age to be bumped to 18? If not, I don't see how this argument hold.
Well, mandatory public school in the US was instituted. When you finished high school, people were usually 18 years old. That's the only thing I can think of. However, keep in mind that even through 1940 many people dropped out of US public school by grade 8 (about age 13) to help on farms or get a job to help their family.
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[–] OhHellYeah 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
At 18 most people are done with high school or about to graduate. Therefore ready to enter the labor market as full time employees, or enter college, or both. In theory, if you are ready to work, you can sustain yourself, therefore you own your destiny. Having the adulthood age at 18 have economical implications, since that also the age in which you can enter the financial market and establish credit history, enter the housing market (most likely as renters), and be overall consumers. Also brain and behavioral development as Hank Green explains here.
[–] [deleted] 1 point -1 points 0 points (+0|-1) ago
[–] crankypants15 ago
Well, mandatory public school in the US was instituted. When you finished high school, people were usually 18 years old. That's the only thing I can think of. However, keep in mind that even through 1940 many people dropped out of US public school by grade 8 (about age 13) to help on farms or get a job to help their family.