Why my students told David Cameron they don’t deserve to vote

The election whirlwind often sweeps up teachers as it makes its way across the nation. Suddenly, a throng of political figures will flock into schools, keen to lean into a selfie or be snapped tucking into the finest food from the canteen.

You’ll know, of course, if the prime minister intends to make a visit. Two days before the set date, heads or deputies will drop hints about an important mystery visitor, delivered with enough nudges and winks to make a Benny Hill convention proud. Obviously, if you breathe a word to the students in advance, the “powers that be” will have to kill you. Next come the security advisers, identifying sniper points on the school roof and revealing staff chocolate stashes with sniffer dogs. Finally, the black limo crunches over the crisp packets in the playground.

David Cameron recently visited my school to take questions from sixth formers. He was well-briefed and confident – some students left the session starstruck and impressed, others were shocked or disappointed. But all left feeling something – like young voters in the Scottish referendum, they appreciated the opportunity and were wholly engaged. Interestingly, before he departed, the prime minister asked for a show of hands on the issue of whether 16-year-olds should join the electoral roll. A majority voted against.

As he bustled out, Mr Cameron was overheard declaring that he’d asked the same question up and down the country, always with the same result. The accompanying smile and shrug said: “What can you do?”

I know from colleagues in other schools that Dave has employed this party piece elsewhere. So, I make a prediction: if DC is asked to explain his stance on the voting age, he will tell us to keep the status quo because the young don’t want change. He knows, he’s spoken to teenagers.

I have taught for 22 years and I believe he’s wrong. This is not just about ensuring that politicians are forced to look beyond the “grey pound” or the “squeezed middle”. It’s not just because we need to increase participation in the democratic process. It’s because 16- to 18-year-olds are, as a group, some of the most well-informed and inspiring humans on the planet.

I can’t argue with the results of Mr Cameron’s straw polls; I’ve had the same discussions with my GCSE and A-level classes with identical outcomes. If he chose to engage them further in debate, they would give him a host of reasons why they are not worthy.

Firstly, they’ll tell him that too many 16-year-olds are involved in drugs or knife crime or binge drinking. They define themselves by the “bad news” stories that bring home the bacon for media moguls. I have taught kids who are guilty of at least some of the above. But I have taught many more who are young carers, uncomplaining as they support others. And the largest youth group are those who cheerfully go through adolescence trying their best, while they act as guinea pigs for successive governments and, for the first time in generations, face harsher living standards than their parents or grandparents.

They also worry that they are not informed enough to vote, that they lack a thorough understanding of the issues. Yet, in this age of internet supremacy, I’m impressed by the current affairs knowledge of my students; they are frequently better informed than overworked adults, finishing 11-hour shifts and collapsing in front of their favourite junk TV rather than facing the news. As the government repeatedly bombards us with the phrase “it’s the right thing to do”, I’m struck by the number of teens who prefer action to rhetoric, challenging prejudice or cruelty.

Our self-effacing young people also point out that they spend too much time staring at their phones, posting on social networking sites or shopping. This is undoubtedly true. It is also what makes them identical to most of my professional friends in their 20s, 30s and 40s (myself included).

But here’s the main point about the kids I teach: they have an impressive intellectual curiosity. They love to debate. What’s more, in arguing against increasing their own rights, they demonstrate that they don’t possess that supreme overconfidence, that sense of entitlement, which plagues their political masters. It is because of their modesty that we should give them the vote.

Read More Here: https://www.academicis.co.uk/why-my-students-told-david-cameron-they-dont-deserve-to-vote/