From the Brilliant Ideas That Will Never Work file:

There are many adult privileges that people earn during their adolescence, such as the right to drive, vote, drink, smoke, gamble, have sex, take legal responsibility for oneself etc. However, under our current system, these privileges tend to be earned arbitrarily based on a person's age. I propose a system under which you earn adult privileges based on good behaviour.

You start earning points at age 13 (all numbers and ages in this example are arbitrary). You earn points through such good behaviour as school attendance, good grades, gainful employment, volunteer work, extracurricular participation, etc. Whenever you earn enough points, you are entitled to a new privilege. The points are coordinated in such a way that an average person who keeps their nose clean but doesn't do anything spectacular would earn full adult privileges by the time they are 20, but it could take as little as three years for a wunderkind adolescent, or it could take forever for someone who keeps getting in trouble. All privileges could be earned within a year of living independently, responsibly and self-sufficiently and not doing anything that's anti-social (in the criminology sense of the word), no matter what the person's age. So if you can function as an adult for a year, regardless of your age, you get to be an adult.

Each privilege has a certain number of points assigned to it depending on how big a responsibility it is. For example, being allowed to buy lottery tickets might be worth 40 points, but driving a car might be worth 100. You can cash in your points right away to pick up a number of smaller privileges, or you can save them up for a big privilege. When you earn a privilege, you get a card (like a driver's licence) that you keep in your wallet saying you are entitled to that privilege.

Points can be lost for law-breaking, for abuse of the privileges to which one is entitled, or for attempting to use privileges to which one is not entitled. Points cannot be lost for general bad behaviour that is not illegal (for example, bad grades or unemployment) - this just prevents you from earning more points or makes you earn points slower. If you lose enough points to take you below a privilege threshold, you lose one or more privileges. For example, suppose you currently have 120 points, and 100 points worth of privileges. If you lose 5 points your privileges are not affected, but if you lose 30 points you lose a privilege.

In addition to earning points for good behaviour, points can be earned for responsible use of one's existing privileges - for example, you can get points for driving for a year without any tickets or accidents. Positive behaviours that are more valuable, and accomplishments that are more difficult, earn more points. For example, getting straight A's in university is worth more points than getting straight A's in high school; having a full-time job where you earn enough money to completely support yourself is worth more points than working part-time at Tim Horton's. Once you earn all your privileges, you get a one-year final probationary period. You continue to earn and lose points as appropriate during this one-year period. If your points level never slips down below the cumulative level required for all adult privileges, you are officially an adult and get to stay in adult status for the rest of your life.