My friends here are smart. They read newspapers. They get good grades. But many did not vote. This last fact seems ironic at a university where political science is one of the most popular majors and students consider themselves "civically engaged." It surprised me. I would reply to them with, "You're not voting? Can I get you a ballot?"
At lunch, I heard two students say they felt poorly informed and thus were not voting. Within the hour, the girl recited the hyphenated names of Angelina Jolie's children in descending order - no small feat - while the boy bombarded me with NBA statistics until I was convinced that fact retention was not the problem (nor was it media access at a university that subscribes to a digital world of news outlets).
And yet most students arrive at college uninformed about state and federal politics. Many have never heard "I'm Just a Bill," the famed song from the 1970s and 1980s television show "Schoolhouse Rock." Though others took civic classes, they were badly conducted. Teachers did not explore the interface between static textbooks and the reality of government: warrantless wire-tapping, Walter Reed, Watergate, Sept. 11.
Even students who attended stellar high schools often experienced a lack of civic education. Sophomore Laura Hoguet, for example, went to The Seven Hills School, a top private school in Cincinnati, Ohio.
"Through the election this year, I have noticed how little I know about government," she told me. "I wish my school had had a government class so that I knew more about the election process and my role as a voter."
According to Steve Cohen, a professor in the education department, government requires a "different way of teaching." He emphasizes experiential learning, where students learn by doing. One example would be to allow students to draft a bill and give it to a legislator. "Understanding the system would really encourage students to participate in it," he told me.
In a 2007 survey conducted by The Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, 36 percent of Americans could correctly name the three branches of government. According to the same study, only one in seven Americans correctly named John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. But two-thirds were able to name at least one judge from the hit show American Idol.
America has one of the lowest voter turnout rates of any democratic country: 50 percent. Of 40 eligible Tufts students I polled, 19 said that they voted in their state's midterm elections. Some tried and failed. Absentee ballots can be conducive to students studying out of state, but procuring them can be a challenge.
Lauren Nadkarni, a junior from Media, Penn., used the Internet. "You have to find your district, ward, municipality, township and county," she told me. "They don't make it easy."
Many are familiar with these lines from the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights ... Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." However, few know the lines that follow. They explain where this liberty comes from: voting. "...That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..."
Throughout history, young people have righted the country by voting. In a recent interview, Dr. Cornel West, author of the book "Democracy Matters," stated that, "young people have played a fundamental role in waves of democratic awakening in this country, from the abolitionists to the Obama campaign. I would hope that young people would continue that role today."
When living up to its ideal, the nation should vote in higher numbers. Tufts students should do the same.
Political activism is pivotal in America: It produces policy, creates living situations and defines the people. It leaves primordial forests to become toilet paper. It passes air quality standards so that we can all breathe and live. Voting choices are vast. If we read the news and look out our windows, the answers will become clearer.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Paula Kaufman is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major.
