We applaud Noah Kassis’s enthusiasm for civic engagement (“Young people deserve to vote just as adults do,” June 1), but question some of his arguments for lowering the voting age to 16 in local elections.

He writes that such young people work, pay taxes and support their families just like adults. No, they do not. When Mr. Kassis is supporting himself or a family, he’ll smile or wince at such a comparison.

He’s also concerned about taxation without representation. So maybe we should enfranchise 9-year-olds who pay sales tax on toys? Civics education? Aren’t the now pre-voting years between 16 and 18 the ideal time for it? The law considers 16-year-olds too young, for example, to enter into contracts so their parents or guardians must act on their behalf.

Psychologists tell us that the mid-teens are a time of intense personal preoccupation. And criminologists advocate raising the age of criminal responsibility on the grounds that teenage brains are not fully developed.

So should we be treating 16-year-olds as unready for full adult responsibilities while rushing to grant them the vote, one of the most solemn and consequential of civic responsibilities?

We still remember our long-ago teens as a time when we soaked up information and thought we knew a great deal about the world. Having to wait until 21 to vote, we played with ideas and gleaned experience from discussions, reading, protests and the like. In hindsight, we’ve marveled at our youthful ignorance of the adult world including the finances of public and private life.

Today studies show that high school students generally have little financial knowledge. So it is easy for such young people to imagine that resources are limitless, especially when they themselves are not yet called upon to contribute much if anything to local revenues.

Weren’t we all sometimes impatient for adult rights? Of course, but we believe that anyone who has raised teenagers will recognize the need sometimes to say: “No, not yet. Your time will come soon enough so let’s make sure you’re well prepared for full responsibility.”

Helen Wise

Maria Tymoczko

Willa Fasten

Northampton