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Politics: Should We Get Involved?

Posted on Mon, 28 July 2008 13:11:52

�Showbiz for ugly people� is the term used by several teenagers describing politics. The endless arguments and the �boring� topics discussed drives youth away from politics but should we get more involved?

The image of teenagers portrayed in the press is nothing to be proud although a majority of 14-19 year olds all over Britain would disagree with this tarnished image. Various students partake in their school debating teams, have strong opinions about life and take active roles in the community; this doesn�t get much airtime in BBC news though. Ironically, teens receive a bad image unfairly, similar to how politics is unfairly deemed as �boring� by us �strong opinionated� teens.

But what is it all about? A bunch of overfed grown men shouting at each other in a room filled with rubber green chairs. Sounds interesting. Well, it doesn�t; however, it�s what they�re arguing about which is the �interesting� part.

Have you ever wondered why there�s always a shortage of buses, the lack of active police on the streets and why we do maths? Well, that�s politics. All of these topical matters are discussed in the room with green chairs.

I assume most teenagers don�t understand the meaning behind political parties like Labour or the Conservatives� well I don�t. Every time I hear �The Conservatives� I just think of Margaret Thatcher, a thought I would rather not have!

Boris Johnson

Hence why politics should be taught in school. Pupil
should learn how this country is run: we are the ones
who�ll be running it tomorrow.

Some of these parties would like to lower the voting age to
16, but as most 16 year olds haven�t a clue what a
referendum is, how can we be expected to vote without
proper knowledge of the matter?

There are several positives of politics being taught: students
could be enthused into joining political parties, at the least
understanding some of the issues facing us today. An argument could be that there are simply not enough politics teachers to teach every school in the U.K, but surely there are enough local politicians who could help and teachers with great political knowledge.

Putting politics into the curriculum is not about giving students more work, but will set pupils on the path of life and teach us how the world works.

If you�re still reading by this point, then I guess politics isn�t that boring after all?

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