Pseudo-law [View All]

"Under no circumstances is an individual under the age of sixteen eligible for testing."

From:
GED Eligibility Guidelines from the Virginia Department of Education
http://gets.gc.k12.va.us/adulted/eligibility.htm

The phrase "under no circumstances" gives the impression of an authoritative rule. However, we're talking about a declaration about the internal policies of some government agency. Perhaps the writer isn't confident that the rule is actually enforced, but merely has a strong desire for it to be enforced.

Suppose that a citizen offers something of value to the State of Virginia on condition that someone who is under age 16 is tested. Is it an offer of nothing since the condition cannot be satisfied? Or is it an illegal bribe even if the administrators to whom the offer is made don't stand to obtain any personal benefit?

What is the theory behind the age restriction? For example, if we were talking about an age-based restriction on entering into a contract, then we might be talking about a concept of legally recognized capacity to consent to a binding contract. If the problem is inability to consent, then what ensures that a similar problem doesn't arise in compulsory education? A student's parents could seek a court order to prevent any academic testing of the student. If consent isn't the issue, then what is the issue?

I presume that there is some issue. Otherwise, the rules could be revised in arbitrary ways. For example, the rule could be:

"Under no circumstances is an individual who is under the age of sixteen or between the ages of twenty and thirty-six eligible for testing."

I presume that there is some effort made to measure how much under-age drinking of alcoholic beverages occurs and that troubling statistics could prompt policy changes aimed at reducing the incidence of under-age drinking. Is there an effort to measure how much under-age GED testing occurs? Alternatively, have senior political authorities already decided that adults don't require convenient access to GED testing, but that adults do require very convenient access to alcoholic beverages? Perhaps such a decision could free political authorities from any reason to worry about under-age GED testing, while under-age drinking might remain an ongoing problem.