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Kathleen MacKinnon on politically involved youth
Kathleen MacKinnon
As a youth, I admit that politics was not a topic that I found very riveting, in fact, it was not until my later years of high school that I made a conscious decision to immerse myself in the various readings and teachings of Canadian politics, and eventually international issues. Yet as I moved through school, I noticed that many of my classmates could make it through quite easily with absolutely no concept of Canada’s political processes or political history. This got me thinking: is this right? Should we be allowed to be so ignorant of information that is so readily available to us, and which forms the very basis of our society?
There seems to be a crisis on our hands: a generation of “politically illiterate” individuals. They adopt the views presented by the media, ingesting it and spewing forth garbled rhetoric as if it were their own. The truth seems to be that very few young people today are interested in educating themselves about political processes and workings. School systems seem to think that there is nothing wrong with omitting classes aimed at instilling basic political principles in the minds of our youth, but I strongly believe that understanding basic political principles is essential if we are to be a fully functioning society.
When I arrived at University, I stumbled upon Classical Studies, and I found every aspect of ancient Greece and Rome to be absolutely thrilling. I was completely taken with ancient Greek drama and art, I was mesmerized by Rome’s military history, yet perhaps the most fascinating ideas I came across were those of a political nature. The more I learned about politics in ancient Greece and Rome, the more fascinated I became with how reverently citizens treated politics. It was so noble to live a political life in these times; youths were encouraged to pursue a life devoted to politics, and despite the fact that the “youths” aforementioned were strictly male citizens from the upper classes the concept of educating the young about principles that affect every aspect of daily life remains admirable.
We have modeled many other aspects of our lives after the examples left by ancient Greece and Rome, why have we lost the passion for politics? One could no doubt argue that politics today is vastly different from politics over two thousand years ago, in that we as a society have changed therefore our involvement has changed, but I don’t believe that this is a sufficient argument. Our society may have changed (or not, depending on how you view it) but that is no excuse for us to become complacent. We could learn something from the Greeks and Romans, we could do with a little more involvement, and a lot more education about politics, as was the practice in Greek and Roman history.
Although the makeup of our political institutions has undergone a metamorphosis since the inception of democracy, there is no reason why we should not retain that awareness and curiosity about political affairs; if thousands of Greek and Roman youths could devote their lives to becoming political figures and icons, I think that we can spare a few hours a week in classes devoted to teaching the youth of today to be more aware of their surroundings beyond superficial terms.
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