Student apathy leads to politicians downplaying education issues
Presidential candidates may not address issues that seem to have a direct effect on students, yet almost everything the government does has an effect on students.
Michael Lyons, a professor in the political science department, said the low turnout rate of student voting reduces the amount of concern for candidates, making student issues a low priority. Lyons said the national government doesn’t have very much to do with universities besides giving loans and grants.
“In the large scheme of things, [worrying about universities] is not a particularly high national priority,” Lyons said, explaining the president’s main role is to lead in foreign policy, be the nation’s spokesperson and to take care of the national economy.
Peter Galderisi, a professor in the political science department, said, “many young voters don’t participate for a number of reasons.
“Probably the greatest is that young Americans have a relatively low sense of civic obligation, and are least likely to think in terms of community, both necessary for the development of a ‘culture of voting.’
“Young Americans are also less likely to feel that political issues are of concern to them,” Galderisi said.
The young American’s disinterest is partially due to the fact many issues like Social Security, mortgage, interest deductions and others aren’t as relevant as they are to those who are older, Galderisi said.
“In turn, politicians are more likely to address issues of greatest concern to middle-aged and older citizens, thus perpetuating that lack of perceived relevance,” Galderisi said.
Students’ low voting turnouts have been influenced by economic prosperity within the last 20 years, Lyons said. Students have been given an over-confidence by the prosperity about life and government.
Things can go wrong, the United States will not always be the world power, and sooner or later young people will come across national problems that will make them consider government more, Lyons said.
“The greatest sense [of civic obligation] is among those who endured the Depression and World War II, events far removed from the consciousness of young citizens,” Galderisi said.
All the issues of government affect students, Lyons said. The federal budget’s deficit will affect students when they are trying to buy homes and later on in the students’ lives. Real money is being lost each year just from the interest in old debts the United States has incurred, money that could be going into other things that are more valuable to citizens, Lyons said.
Lyons said, at least in Utah, the high schools are doing an incredibly poor job of giving people the fundamentals of a civic education. He said college-level students may not feel affected by public education, but they are because of the lack of education coming to the universities.
Lyons said students come out of high schools with a fair degree of patriotic commitment, but the typical 18-year-old doesn’t have the slightest idea and essentially has no comprehension of government.
“The typical young person who might have some interest in government can’t pick up a newspaper and comprehend what is there,” Lyons said, adding that students appreciate government more when they understand what it’s all about.
A combination of three things in history got people to vote and explains why people aren’t voting now, Lyons said. First, Lyons said, during the Vietnam War everyone knew someone who went to Vietnam and knew someone who came back with horror stories from it, and someone who died in it.
The second factor that has an effect on voting was the generation that lived in the Depression. Lyons said that generation lived in a time when unemployment rates were around 25 percent, and those people took life more seriously. Lyons said the people that lived in the Depression were more appreciative of how fragile prosperity can be.
The third factor is a need for much better public education about government in high schools.
“People shouldn’t be getting their first exposure of the fundamentals that enable them to read a newspaper … in college,” Lyons said.
Lyons said there is an additional problem in Utah and many other dominate-party states, where the same party always wins and thus, there isn’t much political incentive.
“To engage [students] through the parts of government where they have personal experience,” Lyons said, is what can get students involved in government.
-amysueh@cc.usu.edu