Many young people aren’t interested in what happens on the other side of the globe. And that’s not an entirely bad thing: they want to live their lives in the carefree manner that has always escaped the realms of adult responsibility for generations. They fear becoming cold, stubborn intellectuals or thinking about things like ‘taxes’ or ‘mortgages’ -and they have the right to live like that.You’re only young once, after all. However, these youth should understand and be aware of their basic worldly surroundings, and what is going on around them. If the youth of today aren’t educated on their political, cultural, and societal environments, then they will fail to understand the importance of their involvement. Also, youth would openly accept opportunities to vote while older generations would find that ill suitable due to youth’s lack of experience.
Context:
My targeted audiences included everyone. I wanted the answer of both young and older people in order to compare them.Youth, of course, would probably tend so support it, whilst the older generations would find it in bad taste. I realized after my first survey, which was on the topic of revolution- a topic that was simply too broad to relate to a graph or chart. Therefore, the initial results were invalid and I had to rewrite my questions. I altered them to fit to my new topic of youth votes and political involvement.
Data:
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| Questions | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Have you ever been to another country? | No | No | Yes, Mexico | No | No | No | No | Yes- Bahamas |
| What does the right to vote entitle? | Exactly that. | The freedom to choose a leader. | freedom of choice and change | The ability to choose a leader | To choose who runs your country | democracy | freedom of choice | The ability to change how the country is run |
| What is your current occupation? | student | Student | Student | Student | Student | Student | Student | Domestic Engineer |
| Do you read any informational documents? Check all that apply: Newspapers, Informative Essays, Other (please specify) | No | No | Yes, Newspapers and Political Magazines | No | No | No | No | Yes, Newspapers |
| Please choose the topic that is the most relevant to you: a. The Cultural Revolution b. The Technological Revolution: Silicon Valley c. The Syrian Revolution: Fall of Gaddafi d. The Occupy Revolution: NYC | A. | A. | B. | B. | C. | D. | D. | B. |
| Some of today’s youth don’t understand the actual importance of politics.True or False? | True | True | True | True | False | True | True | True |
| On a scale of 1 to 8, with 1 being the least, how well do you understand the following topics: The revolution of music/ Revolts in Egypt & Syria/ Caste System of India/ Death of Steve Jobs/ The future of the Internet/ Presidential Election/ Electoral College/ Presidential Primaries | (Items in order) (0) (2) (6) (1) (0) (1) (1) (2) | (Items in order) (0) (2) (6) (1) (0) (1) (1) (2) | (Items in order) (0) (2) (6) (1) (0) (1) (1) (2) | (Items in order) (0) (2) (6) (1) (0) (1) (1) (2) | (Items in order) (0) (2) (6) (1) (0) (1) (1) (2) | (Items in order) (0) (2) (6) (1) (0) (1) (1) (2) | (Items in order) (0) (2) (6) (1) (0) (1) (1) (2) | (Items in order) (0) (2) (6) (1) (0) (1) (1) (2) |
| Do you believe youth ages 16+ should have the right to vote?Yes or No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Why is it important that young people become of aware of their political, societal, and national surroundings? | Because they are going to inherit the world | So they are aware of those things, and see what they can change. | Education | Because it is ignorance that is destroying the U.S. now | Because they will be the ones voting, living out the laws, and running for office and other political positions in the future. So they should be aware of whats happening and how its going to affect them in the future | Because it is their future | They will one day be in charge | They'll be in charge eventually. |
| How Old Are you? | 16 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 43 |
This is the second set of questions that I asked. The first set was decently informing, however, I felt it left some specifity to be desired. I only had 8 respondants for this survey, but I feel that all of the people that took this survey generally felt the same way. They felt that young people should be involved because they are going to inherit the world.
A majority of the respondants were ages 12-16. Only one older adult answered my survey.
I could have gotten many more replies had I posted it online in more places, and printed out tangible copies to pass out.
Most of them were students. All of the 16 year old agreed with the lowered voting age. However, a majority of the younger respondants had never traveled to another country and never read informative papers.
I could have added a wider range of informative papers, however, and included online articles. Many young people read those on a daily basis.
They were interesting results, and I hope to receive even more responses.
Follow-Up:
I sincerely hope to be able to continue this project. Not only do I feel it is an important subject, it is also one that is a normal, everyday political problem in multiple other countries. It is not my personal belief that people under the age of 18 should vote, but others believe differently. However, I believe that those who are of age to vote should register and vote whenever they get the chance. Isn’t it only right to take hold of the lives our forefathers fought for? We should never waste a chance to become politically or socially involved in our country. When I started, I focused on just voting. Now, I want to know something else: Are we involved enough in civic duty? Should we youth not volunteer and lead in order for a better tomorrow? I guess I will find out soon enough.
