Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 12:05:09 PM EDT
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( - promoted by Hannah Farber)
Wow, good job! You get a sticker for voting! Two gold stars for all the good boys and girls out there that got to the polls. I’m all for visibility and stickers on election day to encourage larger turnout. However, it’s undeniable that they hearken back to kindergarten.
We’ve seen a huge increase in voter turnout across the board in this past primary season, and host of coverage on the demographics (of everything) including new voters. The thing is, I’m afraid that the extreme hype surrounding increased youth participation exhibits paternalistic coverage and lower expectations. |
| Alana Krivo-Kaufman :: Is the hype over youth participation (wooo-hoooo) paternalistic? |
I was thinking about the effects of expectations while working with some Jewish youth about to come of age as voters. This Sunday I assisted with on the ground logistics for a a youth summer program, and by that I mean I walked seniors in high school around the airport. Nostalgically, the screams, hugs, and general excitement brought me back to my own days of Jewish youth group and camp. Meanwhile, the non-emotional side of my brain was running through what these kids were being taught. They were over staffed. There was someone at every corner telling them what to do. They had no expectations to think for themselves. (Which is obviously the point, there were 150 kids coming in from all corner of the country on 30 different flights, across a 6 hr spectrum, and just one of them getting lost or losing luggage equals failure.) Yet, ‘kids’ and ‘youth’ age 17, one year away from American legal adulthood and voting age, 3 or 4 years past Jewish adulthood, and seniors in high school are capable beings. They should be expected to have the ability to walk down a hallway and turn right, if they get turned around, to find a map, or, to reach out into the world and communicate with new people or figures of authority. To think, question and interact.
When these sorts of bare minimums cease to be expected, how can we not be surprised at low democratic participation? Further, when that participation occurs and is greeted with incredulity, expectations aren’t being raised.
On the other side, there are some really great organizations out there working on voting as a component of youth empowerment, such as Young People For, Rock the Vote, and The League of Young Voters. Their mission recognizes the power of youth, as a demographic group, and they then organize around that, raising and demanding more of their peers, and extending the idea of participation past voting.
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