Student Role in Politics

I have not had much interest in politics until recently. Before last year, I did not care for anything related to politics; I thought that it was all boring and had little to no affect on me on a personal level. I am more interested in politics nowadays. I know better now that it does affect me and I should care about it. I had learned about the concepts of political socialization, party identification, political tolerance, political trust, political efficacy in government class and how they affect my political beliefs. My personal political belief has been shaped into what it is today and is still being shaped because of those six concepts.

Political inactivity on the part of young Americans stems from one fundamental source -- a general cynicism of the American political process. This disdain for politics is further perpetuated by a lack of voter education and a needlessly archaic voting procedure that creates barriers to voting where they need not exist. While many of these existing problems can be rectified with relative ease through the implementation of programs such as Internet voting and better voter education, such programs create only a partial solution.

“It’s not a place for the fainthearted. Student politics at Alabama are as rigorous as the student athletics” (Brown). In 1914 Theta Nu Epsilon fraternity at the University of Alabama formed a secret organization known as “The Machine”. This organization was formed in order to ensure that the Greeks would have total control over the Student Government Association(SGA). Each year when elections roll around The Machine places their nominations for each government position. In years past at the University of Alabama this organization has done whatever it took to ensure their candidates were elected, even if that meant physical or emotion harm to the other candidates. The Machine must come to an end. In order to end an organization that is so ingrained

The message emerging from a recent research series on youth civic and political participation is clear: today's youth are not disjoined from associational and small political life, but they are increasingly disenchanted with formal political institutions and practices. Children and youth under 18 have made sententious strides in recent years toward fuller involvement in democratic processes. These strides,

As society rapidly changes with an influx of new ideas and issues, studying the college educated and those who are not will help evaluate behaviors and attitudes towards the government, ultimately, clearing the way to adaption into a modern society that perhaps offer remedies of educational and voting discrepancies or even close the gaps between political ideology or identification. Hence, this paper proposes the research question: How does education level influence political party identification.

Verba and his co-authors examine the import of participation, both voting and non-voting, in our American society. According to their argument, the typical citizen activist “tend[s] to be drawn disproportionately from more advantaged groups–to be well-educated and well-heeled and to be White and male” (Verba et al., 1995: 231). Indeed, Verba et al. explore participation along both gender and racial lines and concludes that both women and minorities are comparatively less active than men, especially white men, who stand peerless both in terms of affiliation with a political organization, contributing to a campaign, contacting their Representatives, and more direct forms of participation like voting.

Paul Loeb is the author of Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in Challenging Times. In 2008 Loeb founded the Campus Election Engagement Project, a national nonpartisan student engagement effort that helped 500 colleges and universities engage their students in the election. Paul Rogat Loeb has spent thirty-five years researching and writing about citizen responsibility and empowerment. This book, more so a handbook, enables anyone who desires to make a change in the environment around them, leading them to get involved in larger communities. The book acknowledges that “it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and to become

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, arguably one of our greater presidents in our nation’s history, was assassinated on a Friday in the early stages of winter in 1963; however, he had accomplished much more than a man with lesser courage could have in his services to our country. One of President Kennedy’s most memorable actions while in office, actually took place very early on in his presidency; his Inaugural Speech in January of 1961. When attempting to motivate our citizens, Kennedy speaks of our citizens being “tempered by war,” and “proud of our ancient heritage,” he very successfully appeals to the emotions of his audience. Furthermore, his use of ethos quite effective when he speaks of

January 20, 1961 will forever be a day that marks a special moment in time in which President John Fitzgerald Kennedy delivered one of the most memorable speeches in American History. His Inaugural address is one in which many famous quotes come from and one that is emulated in present speeches. In order to understand the importance of this inoculation one must understand the atmosphere of our nation at that time and what President Kennedy was trying to get across to his constituents. In this essay I will give you background information pertaining to the state our union in 1961; discuss the tone of the speech; and finally examine the impact that President Kennedy’s term played on our nation.

Politicians should be engaging youth in upcoming elections through face-to-face interaction and the use of technology. Young voters don’t have enough awareness and knowledge about politics. By conducting outreach programs or visiting high schools and college/university campuses, would help young voters understand political platforms and will give the political leaders an opportunity to hear the concerns of young voters. For example, as post secondary students it would be encouraging to have the chance to engage with political leaders, and have a better understanding of what they represent and who we feel best represents us as Canadian citizens.

By the time I got to college, my decision to major in political science came as a surprise to absolutely no one in my life. But I knew that my major was more than just a field of study, it’s essentially a lifestyle. Studying political science requires so much more than reading textbooks and writing papers and doing quantitative analysis, at its very core it’s about how people live their lives. I knew that I would have to make concerted efforts outside of the classroom in order to truly understand the way things worked. My first effort at this was serving on the planning and zoning commission for the City of Coffeyville while attending Coffeyville Community College, which gave me a chance to understand local government at a level that most

The main point according Martin P. Wattenberg in Is Voting For Young People is that young people today do not vote during elections as much compared to other voting groups. Young people today are politically unengaged. “These state patterns of voting participation can be confirmed on the national level by the Census Bureau’s 2010 survey data. Among U.S. citizens under the age of 30 in 2010, only 24 percent reported that they voted.” (Page-188, IVYP) The low attendance of young people voting in Presidential elections indicates that young people do not care enough about politics to participate.

As politics and government becomes more complex and involved, more effort is required to keep up with and understand it. As a result, many Americans have lost touch with current events and happenings. Therefore, when election time rolls around, many people lack enough information to develop an educated opinion and support a candidate with their vote, so they just do not vote at all. This lack of information is also related to the belief that one vote will not matter. People believe that their vote will not count, and are therefore following the news less and becoming out of touch with public affairs and politics (Is the System Broken?”). This lack of information is also more strongly apparent among the younger voting population. When interviewed

“Young people are interested in politics, and do have faith in the democratic process. Nonetheless, the political system and the established parties and politicians that dominate it, are together failing to

I. Open with Impact: College students believe they don’t need to vote and find it a waste of time since our “votes” don’t matter or don’t change anything.