In rapidly graying Europe, policymakers think they’ve stumbled upon a way to inject new life into their democracies.

Last July, the UK government announced plans to lower the voting age from eighteen to sixteen. According to the official press release, this reform will not only “boost democratic engagement in a changing world” but also “help to restore trust in UK democracy.” Similar sentiments were echoed by nonprofits such as the Electoral Reform Society, which argued that letting sixteen-year-olds vote will raise turnout in the long term: if people start voting in their formative years, they’ll be more likely to make it a habit.

As a teacher of political education at a high school in Austria — a country that lowered the voting age to sixteen back in 2007 — I’m confident this change is for the better. Many sixteen-year-olds already contribute to society by working and paying taxes, and they’re just as capable as older people of grasping the nuances of complex political issues. If democracy is meant to represent those governed by it, excluding them on the grounds of age alone is hard to defend.