3 Reasons Youth Aren’t Politically Engaged
It’s well known that political engagement amongst youth in the U.K. isn’t incredibly high. Whether it’s people who come from a disadvantaged background, have a lack of knowledge, or feel that they have no voice, there are several reasons that can explain why younger people aren’t as politically engaged as older generations. In this blog, I’ll be arguing for those reasons and adding possible solutions that may improve the lack of engagement.
Disadvantaged Backgrounds
Photo credits: The Irish Times
Many young people in the U.K. come from families where it’s not as accessible to engage politically. Young people whose families suffer financially and are living paycheck to paycheck don’t typically have the time to engage in politics because they’re spending most of their energy helping to provide for their family. Therefore, engaging in politics becomes more suitable for the wealthier, more privileged families because they have the time and resources that allow them to be engaged.
Photo credits: House of Commons Library
Statistically speaking, according to the graph above from the House of Commons Library that shows the BHC and AHC in the U.K., in 2019-20 there were 11.7 million people living in a relatively low income, and 3.2 million of that population were children. Knowing this information, one wonders of this population of people, how many of them engage in politics? And how many of the adults are teaching their children about how to engage politically? These are millions of potential voters who could sway the U.K.’s elections one way or another. However, if a large sum of this population feels that they don’t have the ability to engage politically because of their lack of time and financial dilemma, we’re hurting the U.K.’s chances of helping these families escape poverty by not electing people into parliament and other positions of power who can create change.
Lack of Knowledge
Photo credits: The Guardian, Nigeria
Another factor that plays a role as to why youth in the U.K. aren’t politically engaged is their lack of knowledge about politics. Even though there was a law passed in the U.K. in 2001 requiring schools to include citizenship education in the curriculum, there is still a lack of teaching on the subject in many primary and secondary schools. Important topics like citizenship, which we defined in our module as the “legal rights and obligations bestowed on an individual by the state in which they’re citizens,” and we discussed specifics such as the difference between civil, political, and social rights, all of this vital information is not as often discussed at the primary and secondary levels. Whether it’s the teachers feeling unable to teach such a complex subject, or they worry about teaching the subject showing bias to one political party or another, there are several possibilities as to why civic and political education aren’t taught more in the U.K.
Studies have shown that teaching civic and political engagement increases the likeliness of youth engaging in politics in their community. According to an article titled, “Youth political (dis)engagement and the need for citizenship education: Encouraging young people’s civic and political participation through the curriculum,” a survey was conducted with 1,025 students all of whom were 18 years old. The study compared those who took the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) to those who didn’t. The results showed that those who did take the test were more likely to “support the idea of voting via the internet” and were also more likely to “agree with the idea that people should be allowed to organize public meetings to protest against the government,” (Griffiths, Henn, Pontes). The results from this study prove that educating people about civic and political engagement can empower them, improving their confidence about engaging politically because they have a stronger understanding of their nations politics.
Voices Not Heard
Photo credits: Markus Spiske, Saint Benedicts Monastery
The last reason for low political engagement amongst youth is the shared feeling that young peoples voices are rarely heard in the world of politics. As a U.S. student who is studying abroad in the U.K., I can say that it’s a shared feeling in America that young people believe their voices are barely heard. For example, when we vote during the presidential election, we’re not actually voting for the president. When we vote, our vote then counts towards the number of Electoral College representatives that represent each state. Whichever side has the most votes in each state, Republican or Democrat, that state is then represented by whichever political party won, and whoever represents the state earns all the spots that are associated with that state in the Electoral College. Take for example the Clinton vs Trump election. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote across the U.S., but Donald Trump won the Electoral College vote which gave him the presidency. Many Democratic youth voters who had participated in that election were outraged because when they thought their vote counted, the election ended up favoring the Republican party because of how our political system is established.
Similar to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, when many young people in the U.K. voted to stay in the E.U. for Brexit, young voters were let down because the older generations had larger numbers in which they voted to leave the E.U. and thus the U.K. left the E.U. Beyond voting, there is also a shared frustration amongst youth who create or join a movement they’re passionate about; movements like Black Lives Matter or equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community. Hours of time and energy have been put into these movements but with little to no success in terms of laws being changed or implemented. With great effort but little to no success, it has pushed younger people to give up and decrease political participation. In recent years it’s become more common for young people to participate via social media because it requires less effort but still appears as though they want to take part in the movement. However, this lack of enthusiasm and determination is not helping to create the change so many are wanting to see in the U.K. and U.S.
Possible Solutions
Below is a link from the organization “tbd*” with an article and several videos on how they created 5 initiatives boosting political engagement in the UK.
https://www.tbd.community/en/a/political-engagement-uk-2017
There is no one answer that can solve the issue for the lack of political engagement amongst youth. However, these are some ideas that could potentially help young people become more engaged. One possibility could be to encourage the idea of programs outside of school that young people could join where they can learn about civic and political education away from the classroom. There could be discussions on ideas like the different models of democratic citizenship. The students could discuss these models then participate in rallies and campaigns and decide based on their experience which model they align with. Another solution could be an organization that financially supports youth for those who want to run a rally/event but may not have the financial capabilities due to their young age or low income. The organization would have to approve of the event first before financially aiding it. However, this could give young people the opportunity to practice their rights and leadership skills by motivating their community to take action in a movement they’re passionate about. Again, these are just ideas; we still have a ways to go before the majority of our youth is politically engaged.
What are your thoughts on political engagement amongst youth? Leave your thoughts/opinions in the comments section.
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