By Kate Voltz High schoolers today have, since the earliest days of our exposure to the news, seen political polarization, school shootings, climate change, a global pandemic, and more. We watch with horror and fear as the safe world we thought we inherited is seemingly torn apart at the seams—and feel helpless to stop it. Some of us feel it’s still possible to reverse our fortunes. Others don’t. The question of civic engagement among youth has puzzled political scientists, campaign managers, and government teachers for decades, and isn’t easily answered. The question for us, though, as youth, is are we doing enough? Is our generation civically engaged enough? The mark of “enough” is hard to establish. When do we say we’re engaged “enough?” When we did our best? When we tried to change the government or get involved and succeeded or failed? When we are to some extent involved? It’s a hard thing to define. By some measurements, our generation is in fact incredibly engaged. Certainly engaged enough with civics, in some circles at least, to make a difference. Young people today have grown up with the internet at our fingertips and some extent of education on media literacy, something that no other generation has experienced. We can organize protests, connect with people across the country, contact representatives and research people easily, and inform ourselves well. We have also grown up with the greatest existential threat of any generation, climate change. This summer also brought a racial justice reckoning to America that has brought Gen Z into greater awareness at a younger age, and throughout our childhoods we have seen school shootings rock our collective consciousness as well. These factors have spurred many teens today not only to realize the stakes but also given them outlets and information at the ready to take action. To that end, in some ways, we are civically engaged enough, and have already made a difference in many areas, as news stories around the country have shown us. That said, in many ways, Gen Z may not be civically involved enough. What defines “enough”? If it means a widespread belief in the power of action and ability to take said action, then in reality, we are not. A recent survey of CV students, alums, and community members, ages 14-23, about their opinions and needs in terms of political involvement showed that 48.3% of respondents (which, if anything, are skewed toward greater civic engagement) cited the fact that, “adults don’t/won’t listen to young people” as one of their greatest barriers to getting involved in politics and government. Additionally, 31.5% of the people I surveyed (ages 14-23) said “maybe” or outright “no” to the statement, “Do you feel like getting involved in politics and voting makes a difference.” That’s almost a third. Our generation across the board feels cut off from the system, in part surely because we have grown up watching it fail over and over and over again until involvement feels futile. Because of this, many of us never take action at all. Beyond that, if we’re honest with ourselves, the school system does not prepare us well to become civically engaged, certainly not while we’re still in school, when our political consciousnesses are developing. While, of course, the school cannot take any political bent, it can start telling students from a young age how to get involved if they want to. And it doesn’t. Civics education doesn’t start until senior year, when the education system suddenly seems to feel the burn of procrastination as the voting age approaches students and shoves them into government classes to ensure they know what they’re doing. But, of course, it’s not only voters who need to be informed, and in fact, perhaps if civic education started younger, the voting age could be lowered. For example, Oregon Senate Bill 776 would lower the voting age for school district elections to 16, which would likely spur civics education starting earlier. Ultimately, though, this is a catch-22. Young people don’t know how to get involved or feel like it doesn’t matter, so they don’t, so no one makes more opportunities for them or listens to them because they’re not involved and engaged and pushing for that to happen. Teenagers today also have a ton of other pressures to deal with, largely the weight of their entire futures on their shoulders. College, school, jobs, sports, clubs, other extracurriculars, friends, family, and apparently sleep in there somewhere… how do you find the time to attend hearings or go to protests or all of these other things? We’re told constantly all the things we’re supposed to be doing simultaneously. How on Earth do we fit saving the Earth in there? Or saving voting rights? Or fighting systemic racism? Or all these other huge issues? It’s hard. It’s really hard. And there isn’t an easy solution. For all of these reasons—cynicism, lack of education and opportunity, and time pressures—many teenagers aren’t very involved. Some maybe don’t even want to be, and that’s okay—it’s not for everyone. But to return to the survey data, 42.3% of respondents (of which there were more than 100, ages 14-23) said “maybe,” “no,” or something along the lines of “don’t know enough to say/don’t know how” to the question, “Do you feel like you could get involved in politics if you wanted to?” That’s a very sizable percent of the population, and again, if anything, this is skewed more toward people who would agree with this. So, many youth feel like they won’t be listened to, civic education is failing students, teenagers’ schedules are insane, and many aren’t sure they could get involved if they wanted to. Is this enough civic involvement? No. No it’s not. So how do we fix this? That’s the real question, isn’t it? Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear-cut solution. We have to address the roots of the problem, and there are many. It’s going to involve people who are already involved advocating for greater possibilities and opportunities, especially for those who aren’t at the table already, and advocating for civic education reform. In the same sense that all other rights boil down to voting rights and democracy, all other possibilities and reforms stem from being educated and empowered enough to get involved in the first place. It also means starting small if you want to get involved: even a few hours once a month adds up and can help you see the path to getting more involved if you want to. Combating cynicism is the hardest step: it comes as a result of action on the other fronts, but ultimately it comes down to building hope and hearing the voices of those who are already involved. Hope is hard to find and fast eroding (with good reason) in this day and age. President Barack Obama’s remarks at the Democratic National Convention last year described it well, though, explaining that if those who fought for a better world in worse times than this did not lose hope, then neither should we. And to quote J. R. R. Tolkien in Lord of the Rings, “There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” Photo by Element5 Digital from Pexels
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