To Vote or Not to Vote: Why 18 is Too Late to be Debating This Question

As I get older, I continuously try to wrap my head around what’s going on in this country, and the world, and make the conscious effort to be politically involved to the best of my abilities. The political world is cut-throat and confusing. It is full of games, and it takes a strong personality to be able to play in it. I give a lot of credit to those who attempt to do so, and as a citizen of this country, and a human being in this world, all I can do is try to keep up, and hope that my voice is heard as loud as it can be. I am realizing that I cannot say the same for a large percentage of people between the ages of 18 (the legal age to vote) and 25. Many are confused about many aspects of politics, and do not even know where to begin to try to figure out the right path to take. Although I did register to vote at age 18, I admit I am guilty to being clueless about politics up until about age 20. When I talk to most people my age, I am surprised and saddened to find out how many people still lack the initiative to change their stance on politics. Young people are not familiarized with politics enough to care before they are 18, so here is where the problem originates.

I feel strongly that there needs to be a bigger push in school systems to get young people more familiar with politics and the government. The biggest barrier is that by the time a young person is legal to vote, the world of politics is so foreign to them. Not only is the language of politics foreign, but there is so much to understand about who plays what roles, who stands for what, and what changes need to be made. Before the age of 18, it needs to be broken down in to an understandable explanation for them. This could be done in a course in high school, or some sort of mandatory session put on by the state. At one point in time, MTV used to dedicate 10 minutes of every hour to “MTV News”, a short segment which would occasionally cover some angle of current political events. Despite MTV airing everything else but music nowadays, you would think they could have at least still kept the MTV News around, but unfortunately this has faded away too. Knowing that MTV is a large media outlet for anything to reach young people, it would be refreshing to see MTV put some sort of emphasis on educating its viewers on what is going on in this country. The young people will pay attention to what MTV says.

It is essential for young people to be informed, and it is truly sad to see how many just do not know how to be. The pressure to vote is there, but the means to know exactly how to make your voting decision is not necessarily obvious. It should not be left up to young people to ask our parents. If we are the future of this country, we should not have to ask to be educated on how to ensure a promising future for ourselves.