assumes what it is trying to prove too hastily reaches a general conclusion on the basis of a few examples ignores the fact that some people are mature at age sixteen equivocates with respect to a central concept
Editorialist: Society is obligated to bestow the privileges of adulthood upon its members once they are mature enough to accept the corresponding responsibilities. But science has established that physiological development is completed in most persons by age seventeen. Since this maturing process has been completed by most seventeen-year-olds, there is no reason not to grant these citizens all of the privileges of adulthood.
The editorialist's argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it