An Informed Student is a Powerful Future Voter
By Kana Rasmussen
Toward the end of the school year, I started asking kids at my school if they would be interested in joining the High School Democrats.
What I heard so many kids say about politics: “I don’t really have an opinion.”
But you do! I know you do.
I don’t know of any other age group of people who are as willing to express their opinions as freely as teenagers. They do it often, sometimes viciously. Sometimes over-enthusiastically. They think this teacher is boring, that the sports workout was way too hard, and the last math test was so easy they probably shouldn’t even study for the next one.
But the truth is that it’s hard to have an opinion on things you don’t know much about. And I can’t remember the last time I saw a kid reading the news or switching on the television to catch a nightly broadcast. After all, our worlds seem small; we drive on the same roads, go to school and sports practice once a day, see our friends, maybe walk around downtown. No matter what shows up on the news, all you have to do is walk away and return to the normalcy of your own life; it’s not happening here. Or at least not yet, or not as noticeably.
Eau Claire is a small city, a safe city. How could you notice the cost of living creeping up when you don’t pay rent to sleep in your own bedroom or buy groceries for your family, let alone other things? That’s just it—you don’t. You shouldn’t have to worry about it, either. But to be aware, to be knowledgeable about the world outside our windows, that’s so important. High schoolers are just a few years away from voting, but so many of them don’t fully understand the elections that are constantly ongoing in our communities, in our state, and even in our nation (because it’s confusing). There are races for Senate, for Congress, for representatives of our counties, for Governor, for judges, for city council, for school board…the list goes on and on. Yard signs litter the front yards almost year-round, names and slogans and endless campaigns. No guide, no map, just a whirlwind of elections and promises and dates for midterms, for primaries, for big elections.
How many newly eighteen-year-olds know exactly what elections they’ve become eligible to vote in? Do they know the candidates running? Their platforms?
I get it. It might be the last thing on our minds. It seems like a lot of work, for what? What do you get out of it? That’s what kids want to know. It’s hard to wrap our heads around why voting is so important. Just like Eau Claire, our worlds are small; it seems unlikely that they will change rapidly. But all those little things floating through the back of our minds– the unhoused population that only seems to be growing in our community, after graduation: college debt and wondering if we’ll ever be able to afford a house.
As a young person, I think we’re losing the young people in politics. I see it when I attend political events, when I talk to kids in my grade, and even when I look at statistics.
Adults love to speculate as to why. They’ll say maybe it’s because nobody reads books anymore. They’ll say maybe it’s the lack of knowledge despite an incredible amount of conflicting information that is forever at our fingertips. And a lot of these speculations hold some truth, but none of them is the whole truth.
I think it’s uncomfortable to make up your own mind when the older people around you are guiding you in a certain direction, when you’ve grown up listening to the same thing over and over again, when your friends all go to the same worship and believe what they’ve been told consistently, every week of their whole lives. It’s only natural that so many kids’ views reflect their environment. How else can you form an opinion on the unknown? It’s nearly impossible. So maybe we need to include politics and civics in kids’ lives.
It’s a lucky miracle that I became involved with politics. I was naturally curious after reading certain books and having very involved family members. I came seeking ways to get involved. Looking for canvassing opportunities, for rallies, for information.
But once I peeled back the curtain, the opportunities became endless. Protest this day, meeting this week! Volunteer here, run the table for this event! Door-knock, phone bank. So it’s clear that it’s not that the opportunities don’t exist. And the adults that I began to talk to were thrilled. We’d love more young people, it’s so great to see young people! Yes, it is! Yes, I would love to go to an event and see some more people my age. But unfortunately, things are different from what they were a decade ago. As our High School Dems advisor told me one day, when we were talking about the history of the club and some of the things they advocated for and did, he said to me,“But that was during the Obama administration. Things were different back then; kids were fired up. They wanted to fight.”
That. That really sticks with me.
I think kids do want to fight, once they know what they’re fighting for. I don’t think that kids are unwilling to stand up for what they believe in and get up off the sidelines when they understand what’s going on in our country in current times. The Democratic and Progressive Party just needs to understand how to reach them. They can’t expect young people to come seeking opportunities; it’s clear our generation struggles with that. It was a lucky miracle that I became involved with politics. It shouldn’t take a lucky miracle. It should be accessible. It should be normalized. Let’s not keep the curtain closed. Once kids realize that politics means every season, not just November; that “politics” runs the economy, writes the paycheck they receive from their part-time job, decides on the funding in their schools, the price of the house they hope to own one day, their rights— that is when. That is when they will look at the yard signs on the street they drive every day to school and think to themselves, Maybe I should vote. Yes, you should vote! When they realize they can vote, they will think, Maybe I should research who to vote for. Yes, you should! And as they start to care about the issues their candidate is fighting for, they will think, I want this. I want them to win. I want to help.
Where are the opportunities when they reach this point in their thinking? Let’s not take any chances. They shouldn’t have to struggle to find them.
Where’s the young people in politics? You say.
Where’s the information about elections? Where is their area’s voting location? Where can they get registered? How can they learn more?
Let’s start there. If you provide kids with all the resources and knowledge they need to make smart, informed decisions that are independent of influences like, Well I’m just voting for who my parents voted for then we will have kids ready to be engaged and involved in politics. Because they realize that it matters, not because their parents told them that it does.
The adults who so desperately want to see their kids and grandkids choose the future of our country need to figure out how to bridge the gap, to increase the outreach. To share the opportunities and information freely and accessibly.
To me, that is the next step in including young people in our political process.
If you’re young or know a young person who wants to get involved (or just drop in to see what it’s all about), we would LOVE to have you. High School Democrats is for anyone and everyone. It’s okay if you don’t know much (or much of anything). We have a lot of fun and work around everyone’s busy student schedules. This club is for you! Don’t Hesitate! Email Us: kanarasmussen@gmail.com OR henryjbutler47@outlook.com
If you’re young or know a young person who wants to get involved (or just drop in to see what it’s all about), we would LOVE to have you. High School Democrats is for anyone and everyone. It’s okay if you don’t know much (or much of anything). We have a lot of fun and work around everyone’s busy student schedules. This club is for you!
Don’t Hesitate! Email Us: kanarasmussen@gmail.com OR henryjbutler47@outlook.com
About the Writer: Kana Rasmussen is a sophomore at Memorial High School and co-president of the High School Democrats.