Kaitlyn Hunt's mother under attack by bloggers who say 'Free Kate' is all lies

[Ms. Toad]

175. No you're accepting that the law, as it is, is how it should be.

I reject the premise that the law is an appropriate one as written, and am suggesting that the law should conform more to real life distinctions. Age 18 is an arbitrary day-in-the-life, and has no real life meaning other than being an arbitrary date at which one's legal status changes for a number of things. Graduation from high school, on the other hand, means real changes in your life, and in how you are treated in the world by those you interact with on a daily basis. If you asked people whether their life changed more when they turned 18 or when they graduated from high school, I suspect that far more would respond that their life changed more with

And, FWIW, as a teacher I did treat 14 year old students in the same manner as I treated 21 year old students (I regularly had 18-21, and in a few instances 22 year old students, who had not accumulated enough credits to graduate). There were students at 14 who could handle more responsibility and were permitted much more independence in their work, and 21 year olds who I regularly refused to give a bathroom pass to because they could not be trusted to use it responsibly. I evaluated each child based on their maturity (in a variety of senses) and treated them in accordance with that maturity, in most instances, I didn't know (or care about) what age they were. I don't know any teacher who treated their students differently based on either grade level or age. I know my daughter was not treated differently as a 12th grader than she was as a 9th grader.

I have not argued anywhere that this case literally falls within the statute. My entire point is that this should not be a criminal matter. And I was not suggesting the summary was the statute, or that it literally applied to the law in question - I was merely pointing out that in some instances in Florida, 18 year olds in high school are treated differently than 18 year olds who have graduated - since you had insisted that 18 is an adult. Period. Apparently, sometimes in Florida, it isn't - and, more to the point - for purposes of this particular statute I don't believe it should be.