I’ve been thinking over recently how a lot of people are disengaged from the political process. My reference is the UK but I am sure it holds elsewhere, but anyway a lot of people understandably are cynical about politics and politicians and to be honest don’t necessarily understand the issues with clarity, a significant reason for this is that when issues are presented by politicians in the media there is a lot of spin. In many ways I do think of politicians as salesmen without necessarily the greatest integrity. They want you to buy into ‘their product’, their solution to society’s ills BUT as with all good salesmen it isn’t necessarily important how good ‘the product’ actually is that is important or debating its merits. What is important is making the SELL and that is pretty much by any means necessary. There are standard rhetorical devices that politicians use to avoid having to discuss the weaknesses of ideas or policies or at least to paper over them. So of course ,to carry on the metaphor, the actual product can lose significance and what is more important is the packaging. I don’t think its too cynical to believe a good catchy slogan can go a lot further to winning an election than a good policy.
Anyway I guess this is background to what I want to say. I think a significant number of people are quite ignorant when it comes to political matters. From the set up of the political institutions and how they work, to the basic ideologies that distingush political parties and what they historically stand for. I’m not sure what the percentage of people who voted in the last election had actually read the Party Manifestos but I guess it wasn’t too high. What I suggest is that within school, we have a compulsory class, possibly integrating aspects of Citizenship that educates secondary school aged children about similar things to what I’ve mentioned, the political system, the parties and significant factors of British life and identity including things such as the unique relationship between the constituent nations. Hopefully this all seems relatively reasonable so far…BUT I may lose a few of you with my next proposals…!
I think this compulsory class should be a foundation of every child’s education and as such can see their transition from child to citizen of Britain. I would further state that Voting would not be a right but a privilege and in order to receive that privilege required you to pass this class! What I would be attempting to do by this is not reduce the numbers who vote but INCREASE it by children getting a sense of value from having the vote. The class should be relatively easy to pass BUT for those who theoretically failed it they wouldn’t be totally disenfranchised, they would simply have to repeat the class UNTIL they pass but yes they’d still have to earn the vote. Its just an idea but I like it because I believe it would get the public educated by politics and how it affects their way of life, I believe it would increase the standard of debate in the public arena and maybe politicians will think twice before they think they can pull the eyes over a more aware public. And I think importantly it would reduce apathy.
I have already seen little flaws, such as what about those with learning disabilities, would they not be able to have a voice or vote. But I reckon the votes of groups such as these are exploited anyway and I would just say that in this specific case, a guardian would vote for them.
But yeah I’m sure there is the odd American libertarian on the site who probably wouldn’t go for this!! But yeah I would be interested to hear any views
Your idea seems to hinge on investing the vote with value, a personal sense of integrity. I don’t think it’ll happen. 99% of teens don’t work that way. They don’t give a shit about school. They do what they can to pass, if they even care about that, and that’s it.
That’s not to say a mandatory course in the importance of voting is not a good idea, but if you want to decrease voter apathy, I’d say gear the content of the course towards how a choice of candidate affects an individual’s life. I mean, I myself see the importance of voting, but the motivation just isn’t there. I don’t feel that it affects my life. It seems that at the end of every voting season, nothing in my life changes. I work at the same old job, I get the same amount of pay, I owe the same debts, the quality of health care doesn’t seem to change, my standard of living doesn’t seem affected, and so on. If I could see a direct link between who I vote for and the conditions of my personal life (and I mean really see it clear as daylight - not just a hypthetical maybe it might have some general effect), I may be more eager to vote. If you could ingrain that into the heads of teens, and really show them the connection, then that might decrease voter apathy.
thanks for your comments gib, you make a lot of sense. And yeah i think its crucial that people understand that who they vote for can have an impact on their life and society. Thats why i think its important to have some basics in political philosophy and the ideologies of the parties so you have an idea of the society they are trying to create. But yeah the problem is the mediocrity of the majority of politicians and their inability to inspire the idea that they can truly change society and individual’s lives. But yeah i guess I believe if the public were more aware they would expect more from their politicians and they would therefore rise to the challenge. I guess I just believe an educated public isn’t defined by their ability to fill the job market. (I hate the idea that the goal of education is to create IT consultants etc) I am quite idealist but I believe it is possible to motivate teens to see the bigger picture and that change is possible. As a teen, I think me and my peers did want to change the world but ended getting caught up in the soulless market-driven system, the need to find a crap unfulfilling job and just be a cog in the machine. But I honestly think society should be an entirely different machine to what it looks like now and it’s up to us to challenge politicians to come up with radical solutions, which as you say, can impact and improve peoples lives.
I bet that 99% of everybody invests a lot of time and effort to learn about things that matter in life.
Voting makes no difference to the voter’s life. The effort put into voting would be better served fixing a car or shopping for a mortgage.
Well, if you want to avoid voter apathy, my bet is that you will have to fill that course with falsehoods and start teaching it when they are very very young.
I think that sounds like a wonderful idea!
However, I doubt you would teach that class the same way as I would teach it.
Speaking of insanity, I believe it is insane to pretend that voting makes a difference for the individual.
In some countries, voters must stick their finger in indelible ink. This does two things:
primarily, it prevents double voting; keeping track of voters is administratively much easier.
it labels people who did NOT bother voting
This latter effect may provide an incentive to the individual to vote because most people do not want to appear “lazy” or disobedient as they would in this current paradigm.
That may be true but there’s no reason why there can’t be a standard curriculum just as there is now with Politics as an optional subject at A-Level
I think it does or at least can even if not immediately obvious but I take your point that (using my native UK as example) that the two main parties are closer on a lot of issues BUT at the end of the day government policy can shape society and maybe its because people are apathetic that the politicians are not challenged enough to come up with better solutions. The purpose of my proposal was not only to increase the value of the vote but to make people more aware and have a greater understanding of the political system they are in, so ultimately they will be less likely to let lightweight politicians off the hook.