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That's not at all what I'm advocating, and you know it.
We're talking about high schoolers here. No, they're not adults, and sometimes, they don't think things through, but they're not naive like 8-10 year olds are. There isn't something magical about turning 18 that automatically makes you self-aware and more responsible. Just because high schoolers don't care about the consequences of their actions doesn't mean they aren't fully aware of them. They choose to ignore them.
It's one thing to blindly follow the letter of the law, but like you said... it doesn't make it right, or realistic. Millions of high schoolers blow each other every day and they still grow up to be well-adjusted adults. Placing some arbitrary age value upon when someone "knows" what consent is doesn't make any sense at all. If this were a case of an 8 and 10 year old, you'd be right, because biologically, they just aren't capable of understanding or really consenting. But we're talking about 15 and 17 year olds. Not at ALL the same thing.
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