Looking ahead to a 'historic' year for Scotland's teens

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2014 is shaping up to be a big year for Scotland.

There is golf's Ryder Cup and Glasgow will host the Commonwealth Games.

Also, for the first time on the British mainland, Scottish 16 and 17-year-olds are set to get the vote.

The question they'll be helping to answer is a big one. Should Scotland leave the UK and go it alone as a separate country?

Newsbeat's brought together three 16-year-olds, who will all be eligible to vote in September's referendum, to discuss their year ahead.

"For Scotland to reach its full potential, we need to be in control of our own money, and our own needs.

"For that we would need to be ruled by our own government.

"The potential we have, for independence, is that we can make our country better.

"We can have a higher profile, and we can be better economically.

"There are just so many positives. It is such an important decision, especially because we are representing those that are younger than us, like our younger siblings or those that have maybe just missed the voting age."

"A lot of it doesn't add up.

"It [independence] doesn't seem to be a better option for Scotland at this time.

"With all the debt that we're already in as the UK, I don't see how Scotland could cope with that debt, without the UK.

"We live in a society that is strapped for cash and a lot of the policies that the (pro-independence) SNP have put forward could go ahead currently with the parliament that we have.

"It [the independence vote] will affect our generation probably the most."

"Both campaigns need to stop the kind of scaremongering that both are doing.

"They just try to rubbish each other instead of trying to get the facts out.

"Both sides of the argument should give more accurate statistics. This is a huge, historic moment for Scotland, even if it is a yes or a no vote, because we have been part of the United Kingdom for so long.

"We [young people] are going to be working adults in Scotland if it goes independent.

"We have to look at the facts ourselves and make the right decision for future generations."

Find out more about the BBC's Generation 2014 project.

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