Age vs Level Grades in School

In every other field, at least up to the end of high school, which class your child is in depends on their level, not their age. In swimming, music, languages, private tutoring classes etc. your child's admittance depends on how well s/he can swim, read, or add not how many times s/he has been around the sun (See http://compellingcontemplations.blogspot.com/2009/07/age-legality-and-state.html). Rather than grouping children with other children who learn differently and at different speeds, children need to be put in an efficient environment where their individual learning needs can be taken care of.

For example, your child can be in classes with level 4 math and level 3 gym students, or classes with level 2 art, level 5 science and level 3 history students(whatever).

Then, there can be different graduation types as well, instead something like a meaningless 'high school' diploma there can be a 'basic knowledge + advanced math' diploma or 'honors in basic knowledge + intermediate music'. Imagine if you had this individualized university-like experience where you could advance whatever knowledge that is necessary while focus on your interests, strengths and/or weaknesses sooner.

Instead, when you are put into classes where someone raises their hand for the third time asking a relatively repetitive question, it may be a perfect learning speed for them but the quality of the learning environment is corrupted as a whole. However, at the same time, that same individual may be much better than you in their field, so if you cannot pass the ball quick enough, the quality of that soccer game is also corrupted. (I like giving classic examples of jocks vs nerds).

Age, Legality and the State

What does a birthday represent? In reality, all a birthday represents is how many times a person has been around the sun or an orbit. Yet, this has nothing to do with the actual age of a person. This is only a measurement by which we try to label maturity, but this is obviously flawed. In reality, people grow, learn, develop, go through puberty and heal at different speeds. It is possible that someone who has been around the sun 16 times could have the same maturity level of someone who has been around the sun 22 times and vice-versa.

The 'legal age' has nothing to do with biology; rather, it is just another easy, fast and arbitrary way for the state to gain control. In all its wisdom, the state claims that age X is the age by which smoking is allowed and age Y is the age by which people can drive... which makes little sense. Moreover, instead of putting kids into grade classes based on level or success rate, as a result of what the state does, kids are clumped into classes where everyone is learning in a way or in a speed they are not accustomed to, instead of learning in their own way at their own pace.

Murray Rothbard also touched up on this in chapter 14 of The Ethics of Liberty (can be found at mises.org). Children have a "right" to succeed from their parents if they are able to do so. Surely, understanding and being capable of succession qualifies for some sort of adulthood. Also, Rothbard tells us that child labor protection takes away the right for children to succeed as they have little choice but to stay in their households, making them vulnerable to abuse - this restriction must be lifted.

Sure, you might ask, is there a better way to measure? I am not a scientist so I can't come up with any methods for actually testing this, but I do know that the authority to draw these lines comes from no where and the lines do not make sense.

An alternative would be to end 'ageism' - just how it makes little sense to make up some sort of group consciousness for race and sex, it makes little sense to have a group consciousness of '16'. Sure, much like race and sex, there are some things we can generalize (e.g. the older you get its harder to have kids when your a woman) but there is no way we can rely on generalizations.

Giving growth an orbital measurement is flawed, and we need to judge all people based on merit and level, not capricious lines.

How did states/religions come about? Why are they still around?

NOTES

The history between the relationships of states and religions are very interesting to me, that is why I have taken upon myself to add this project to my list.

Reason for the creation of states:
At some point in human history, survival required the use of violence. Avoiding predators, catching prey, territorial conflict between groups and mating all required violence to function. Related to mating, the alpha of the group is usually chosen through their ability to beat another in combat. Over time, these hierarchical relationships had gotten increasingly complex - relationships between alpha and non-alpha within groups grew into an alpha/non-alpha relationships between families and alphas learned that they can take over other the groups of other alphas, which helped them gain power and ultimately, security. The elites of these groups then lead their societies against other elites of other societies. This hierarchical structure eventually grew into a state which then went on to take many forms.

Reason for the creation of religion:
An explanation of the unknowns.

Reason for the continued existence of religion and state:
Children raised in households where parental authority is not legitimated rationally but rather through blind allegiance which usually takes the form of a 'moral duty'. This corrupts children which leads them to believe in an omnipotent/moral deity or state.