The state vs. parents--who should have control?

What you really should have asked with your question in this thread is the age old question that gets repeated in the media (and occasionally here) ad nauseum: who should control the lives of youths, the state or parents? I will bet that all youth liberationists will vote "neither." Your question was just vague enough that it avoided this argument with the respondants, but your brief exchange with Goethe revealed your actual agenda in asking this question.

So I will answer your actual question, brushing all the smoke and mirrors aside: as a youth liberationist who actually takes the concept of youth autonomy seriously, I do not get involved in silly arguments over who should have the right to control the lives of youths under a certain age--the state or the parents. I believe neither the state nor parents should have the right to control the lives of any youth who achieves emancipation under the law. Any youth should have the right to seek such emancipation with or without the support of their parents and irregardless of whether or not either or both parents approve, and once they are legally awarded said emancipation by an objective committee of peers and adults who fairly evaluate the test (assuming that competency tests were used in place of automatic emancipation at the time of full cognizance, which I believe will be the case for a time), then the state should only have the power to intervene to enforce the civil rights of younger people, much as it does with any adult whose rights are being infringed upon.

If you deny the state the right to enforce youth rights, then you leave youths at the mercy of any adult who would try to discriminate against them or impose their will over them...which, of course, is your very intention, since you have since adopted the concept of parental ownership (or, specifically in your case, maternal ownership). A system based upon parental ownership of younger people is not a youth liberated society. The state isn't the only potentially oppressive unit in society; employers, parents, and educators can do a fine job of oppressing also.