Say the word ‘politics’ to an average 18-year old and what will you receive in reply? Probably an apathetic shrug? Maybe worse. If you’re lucky, maybe a basic outlining of support for a certain party, but quite frequently for the wrong reasons; because they’re the ones not in power right now, because it’s who a family member or friend votes for, because their leader likes The Killers?
I know what you’re thinking. Another stuck-up middle-aged fool, putting a downer on today’s teens as they always do. But I am in fact a teen myself. I’m at university in the UK and I’m 19 years old. I don’t wish to put the youth down, or belittle my own generation. I know some teenagers incredibly engaged in politics, which is encouraging. However, I write this article because I am tired of the apathy that seems to of gripped my nation, my generation, tired of the culture of never questioning, never challenging, never debating, and never taking an active stake in the decisions that affect our lives. It disturbs me to see the willingness of people my age simply to roll over and accept defeat. Thirty-odd years ago something great happened in my country. The young people of the nation were sick; sick of being chastised, sick of the ghost-towns and the poverty ridden council estates they were born into, and sick of the posh men in suits who tried to empathise with them once every four years. So they did something. They chose to try and make a difference. They picked up a guitar, found a drum-kit, and they gave themselves a voice. They made abundantly clear that they were sick of the establishment, and that they had minds of their own, they were not simply pawns in the game of uppers classes. Punk music changed this country’s history.
But for what? Thirty-five years on from when Sham 69 wrote ‘If the Kids Are United’, today’s kids are a mass of apathy. Even just a quick search on the ‘political preference’ section on a Facebook page will often return such illuminated ideas as ‘don’t care lol’, which is one of the tamer expressions of disinterest I’ve come across. I have plenty of friends, even those at university who you would expect to perhaps be engaged in politics, who aren’t aware of whom the Prime-Minister is. It’s not so much anger at the establishment, as much as quite frankly not giving a damn.
This leads me to the question though, why? And the answer, perhaps surprisingly, is quite simple. Because we don’t know about politics. In my entire school education, the most we ever touched upon politics was in History, when we discussed the impact of certain decisions upon Britain’s past. Forgive me but I don’t think the policy decisions of Stanley Baldwin’s pre-war cabinet are going to interest your average 21st century teenager. If it wasn’t for my decision to study politics at A-level and actively seek some enlightenment as to this mystifying subject myself, I’d suspect that my views on the subject would fall in line with the disaffected outlooks that I have mentioned. Teenagers aren’t going to care unless they’re taught, much as children will never learn to read by themselves. Politics is a complex and confusing beast, full of outdated traditions, barely-comprehensible electoral systems and bizarre structures of power. I, for one, doubt I would be able to understand most of what I read about politics were it not for my teacher at college.
If those in power are serious about encouraging youth involvement, then they need to make an effort. I’m sure time could easily be found for one or two-hour slots each week at schools to learn about the manifestations of politics, and how it affects us as citizens. I certainly have no doubt that to many teenagers this would be much more useful than three hours a week learning about Pythagoras’ theorem. Some schools claim they cover politics in ‘citizenship’ classes, but I know mine certainly didn’t and from what I hear of friends who studied it, citizenship is little more than a flimsy excuse of an education on politics.
Overall, it seems that an effort is required on both sides for the generation that is going to inherit the earth from its elders. But it’s the powers that be that need to make the kick-start. They need to make an effort to encourage teenagers in politics before this apathy becomes an inset rot among scores of future generations. Up until that point though, I’ll still hold out a little hope…