I am doing a some research for my government class about what kind of voters education do the schools have in U.S about teaching kids ages 8-18 about the process of voting and democracy compared to other countries. According to news report that only 1 out of 10 people under the age of 30 voted this election. In Northern European countries, women held 40% of the government positions. Do they have a better sense of civic duty than us? Do teachers in the U.S, talk to students about voting, politics? Do teachers encourage students to talk about voting and election process during non election years?? feedback is appreciated
I imagine you are in the UK? If so I went to a talk with Mo Molam the retired cabinet enforcer and Northern Ireland Peace Negotiator. I raised this issue in the Ask the Audience section of her show: "Do you not think that it is unsurprising and in fact obvious that if you don't teach children about how government works, how their social system is structured and how to play a part within this structure, then there is no wonder the majority of people are so apathetic towards politics and even at the highest point of voter turn outs we never hear from more than 6 in 10. Is it because these people genuinely don't care about how their life is run, or is it because they genuniely don't know and have no comprehension as nobodoy as truely informed them? I think the conclusion is obvious. As in the UK only 3.5% of the population are ever taught about the political system in schools, and this is only should you choose to do it after mandatory education! The same is true for the USA, where you are only taught about Politics if you choose to know and take it as a degree... Surely it is the respoinsibility of the current government and indeed society as a whole to ensure that every person in this society is educated on their society and how to improve and change is aswell as the constant reminding of their rights?" Conspiracists could suggest its structured this way to keep the government's unaccountable, keepingthe right amount of people just stupid enough to either not vote for their opponent or even manage to vote for themselves, without knowing truely the implications of what is going to happen. I think this is true to say of the United States, for example, the two types of people who voted republican were a) Rich arogants who like Bush's business policies, could sense the implications in the future, but were happy to ignore this for commercial gain, and b) Stupids - people who really didnt undrestand the implications of voting bush and believed the lies and distortions the Multi Million Dollar Propaganda Campaign spewed out.. Bush supporters only correctly regonised 2 of his policies.. out of 8, in a multiple choice survey between 2 options!! And for christ sake look at this : Wake up those of you who fall into catergory a) (Rich arogants who like Bush's business policies, but were happy to ignore certain longterm doom for shortterm commercial gain) IT'S YOU GUYS WHO KNOW THE FACTS! You're just happy in you're little belief coocoon that its gonna turn out all OK anyway so you might as well make some more money in the mean time.. You know it! Never mind pretending it was on the Moral vote, Gay marriage and Pro Life, these issues don't affect you directly, what doe's affect is money and you use the other issues as a guise for you're arogance. PLEASE WAKE UP! So, want to take part?! How do we solve these problems? It never does any good to just criticise after the fact, although thats what Ive just been doing in the first part of this, all of us do it, what we must do is combat the causes of such ineptitude and unawareness. Where does it start? - Reform of the media? hmm maybe.. - Reform of Campaign laws (again)? perhaps.. - Civil War? um good one.. but no! how about - Education? Yeah, education, throughout childhood. Yes it should be partly the responsibility of parents to ensure the mental wellbeing and awareness of the child during times when they can be. However, what about all of the other important times, in toddlers, kindergarden, primary schools and secondary schools (First, Middle and High schools)? Surely it is the responsibility of a democratic Society to inform every member of that society their rights, the structure of the society and the methods to improve or modify this society properly should they find a more appropriate solution? Surely if we taught people how to THINK objectivly and gave them a fundamental understanding of Politics, education them on the formation of Ethics (why people believe what they believe) and teach analytical thought then the society would sure enough take care of itself.. The reason we see all this terrible stuff happenning within society and any society in fact, is because too many people don't know how to think far beyond the primal level of Get food, Get Shelter, Get Sex. Teaching our children to think is the only answer to our problems, hey, we may never see the benefits of this during the next 20 years or even our lifetime however, can anyone think of a Good reason why NOT to impliment this into education as mandatory? Im sure the Crooked leaders could spin up some special reasons against this, but think again, who does this benefit? Democracy is FOR THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, OF THE PEOPLE Call it a conspiracy theory, but I honestly believe that the education system in America is set up like that on purpose, to give the government greater power. Remember, it is considered a valid argument to not criticise the President, because it is "unpatriotic." The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, taken by children throughout childhood seems to link into this. At some point the people began to feel that they had to fall in line with the President's wishes and not the other way around. And honestly I don't think that America is a democracy. Although that may seem an extreme view to take, when Big Business plays such a big role in any election, when you need 1 billion dollars to put together a proper election campaign, when so much of the media echoes the same nationalist views, when the voting system seems so dodgy but no one really addresses the issue, when so many dirty tricks are used to discount peoples votes, stop them from voting altogether, when you're voting over personality and not policy etc, I think you lose the right to call yourself a democracy. Stupocracy perhaps? If the leaders can keep enough people stupid, then they can LEGALLY do whatever they damn well please... because it was the people who decided right? ...Ignoring the fact that the people who voted you in are mindless idiots, thanks to the conditioning you have imposed upon them throughout their lives, police state tactics and a ridiculously bias media. The illusion of freedom is fantastic. I really do envy them, Not for having the idea, as any intelligent person can come to the same conclusions on how to control a populaion, but for having the balls and being ***** evil enough to carry it out and actually do it!
Here in germany the kids (well, us) are encouraged in politics lessons to do research about what programs the parties have on their agenda, eg what makes the difference between them. But it doe not go further than that, what party to vote for is left up with the kids. And we have 3 different levels of schools, I am talking about the best (gymnasium), I am afraid it is different with the other school types... They may try, but the kids just won't be too interested (not all of them, but more...)
I do not know where you went to school, but where I did, we learned about government in Elementary school. I remember a mockl election for president in 1976 (I was in 4th grade at the time) and we actually talked about the issues. Each year, we learned more about government sturcture and how it worked.
And I would point that it's very hypocritical for liberals to use IQ results to justify any sort "blue staters are smarter" thesis, considering that we are the ones that are the first to point out the racial and cultural biases in IQ and most other standardized tests.
I think all high schools teach economics in 12th grade. Before that, there's world history and US history. US history begins with the early settlers until the JFK era..but it doesn't stress too much on the post 1950's era. World History covers basically the time of modern evolution...the printing press, new inventions, monopolyies by big corporations (if you can call them that), the devoplement of social classes (high, middle and lower), etc. Economics is a senior thing I guess...and it really isn't covered too much. --- ElJefe has a great point. No real need to explain why because he did.
When I was in the US as an exchange student, I had a class one semester called Civics, and the next semester it was Current Events. I also had a World History class apart from that. This was 12th grade. As far as thinking the governments conspires to keep information from the people so that they don't vote strikes me as a very dumb conclusion on several levels: first, it is not true. Social Studies is mandated in the US. Second, you should understand self-determination. If someone does not vote, it is their right as a citizen (in most countries other than Communist states and Australia), not a requirement. The people who don't vote however, do not get to complain about results. Last, one poster alludes to lack of education in schools for not understanding how to mark an X or punch a hole in a ballot. This is insane. If you can not figure out the physical act of voting on a card or computer, your vote really, truly does not deserve to count.