Half the population of the USA don’t vote. More young people than old, but still a big chunk of ‘older wiser’ people can’t be bothered to vote.
The latest gerrymandering and other measures further reduces those few areas where there is any real choice and the weight of candidate selection is moving to the Primaries where money is the only candidate. So election turnout is not likely to improve.
Gen Z are just doing what their parents and grandparents did; stay at home on voting day. It’s not the “system” that’s the problem, it’s just that people can’t be bothered. What is wrong is that people don’t appreciate the democracy that they do have. ‘You don’t know what you got till it’s gone’…..as the song says.
Thanks for this point, Peter. In fact, Gen Z is better at voter turnout than Gen X or the Millennials, at least by some standards. This doesn't take away from your point, but it does suggest that this generation is different. I'm also wondering whether your second paragraph also helps make the point you argue against in your third paragraph: rather than simply not wanting to be bothered, gerrymandering (etc.) may help young people conclude that the system is broken (and therefore voting isn't meaningful). I'd be interested in reading your response!
Well I think that “just don’t care about voting” is the main thing. The recent moves on gerrymandering etc. will make the situation worse, but the basic feeling has been there for long time. Anyone will tell you that voting doesn’t change anything, which of course it doesn’t if you don’t do it. There’s no rationality at all.
The UK is the same. There are no similarities between the US and UK political systems except that elections produce the same result: just under 50% don’t vote.
In the UK in 1945, 85% of an undernourished, often illiterate and disorientated population voted with the explicit purpose of changing society permanently…..which they did. Changes made then still form the framework of UK society today. This kind of behaviour is done and gone, never to return; no amount of “Civic Studies” will ever bring it back. Now we have social media.
The other side of the coin, never discussed, is what on earth would the US or UK would look like if 85% of the population had voted in every election since WW2?
Brexit shows the disaster of increased turnout amongst an uneducated population. The UK’s future was permanently disfigured by less than a million people who mostly skipped school, normally don’t vote, and believed social media posts telling them that leaving the EU meant the black faces off the street.
But social media does hold some promise. The billionaires-u-don’t-like are often selling junk nobody needs. So social media campaigns could yet release the power of the consumer; the power to eliminate products or companies from the market place:
Don’t want Coca-Cola in your country = social media campaign don’t buy it = they’re gone.
Excellent discussion. As a retired high school teacher in Canada I often began novel study with Plato's Cave. Next came the inquiry question, Who am I and where am I going? The I
Professional development for teachers is key and may be the most accessible. The teacher education system is not working. Thank you for what you are doing.
Thanks so much. I agree that spending more money on professional development vs. central offices and testing might help make the system right. Attract better teachers by paying them more, provide meaningful professional development, and trust them to make good choices...
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Half the population of the USA don’t vote. More young people than old, but still a big chunk of ‘older wiser’ people can’t be bothered to vote.
The latest gerrymandering and other measures further reduces those few areas where there is any real choice and the weight of candidate selection is moving to the Primaries where money is the only candidate. So election turnout is not likely to improve.
Gen Z are just doing what their parents and grandparents did; stay at home on voting day. It’s not the “system” that’s the problem, it’s just that people can’t be bothered. What is wrong is that people don’t appreciate the democracy that they do have. ‘You don’t know what you got till it’s gone’…..as the song says.
Thanks for this point, Peter. In fact, Gen Z is better at voter turnout than Gen X or the Millennials, at least by some standards. This doesn't take away from your point, but it does suggest that this generation is different. I'm also wondering whether your second paragraph also helps make the point you argue against in your third paragraph: rather than simply not wanting to be bothered, gerrymandering (etc.) may help young people conclude that the system is broken (and therefore voting isn't meaningful). I'd be interested in reading your response!
Well I think that “just don’t care about voting” is the main thing. The recent moves on gerrymandering etc. will make the situation worse, but the basic feeling has been there for long time. Anyone will tell you that voting doesn’t change anything, which of course it doesn’t if you don’t do it. There’s no rationality at all.
The UK is the same. There are no similarities between the US and UK political systems except that elections produce the same result: just under 50% don’t vote.
In the UK in 1945, 85% of an undernourished, often illiterate and disorientated population voted with the explicit purpose of changing society permanently…..which they did. Changes made then still form the framework of UK society today. This kind of behaviour is done and gone, never to return; no amount of “Civic Studies” will ever bring it back. Now we have social media.
The other side of the coin, never discussed, is what on earth would the US or UK would look like if 85% of the population had voted in every election since WW2?
Brexit shows the disaster of increased turnout amongst an uneducated population. The UK’s future was permanently disfigured by less than a million people who mostly skipped school, normally don’t vote, and believed social media posts telling them that leaving the EU meant the black faces off the street.
But social media does hold some promise. The billionaires-u-don’t-like are often selling junk nobody needs. So social media campaigns could yet release the power of the consumer; the power to eliminate products or companies from the market place:
Don’t want Coca-Cola in your country = social media campaign don’t buy it = they’re gone.
Excellent discussion. As a retired high school teacher in Canada I often began novel study with Plato's Cave. Next came the inquiry question, Who am I and where am I going? The I
Thanks, Terrilyn - I love to teach the Allegory of the Cave - my students act it out!
Looks like my text sent incomplete. Ah well.
Professional development for teachers is key and may be the most accessible. The teacher education system is not working. Thank you for what you are doing.
Thanks so much. I agree that spending more money on professional development vs. central offices and testing might help make the system right. Attract better teachers by paying them more, provide meaningful professional development, and trust them to make good choices...