From the Bottom Up

The most influential element on improving the knowledge of an issue or topic is education. Through education the amount of knowledge a person gains stems from the amount of effort a person puts in. This concept is one that I personally learned later in life and at times still struggle implementing in my academics. There are many reasons to why education is so beneficial, but in order to reap the benefits of education, education must first be provided. Furthermore, within that education system the right subjects are being required to set a foundation to make students want to learn more. In regards to improving the countries current state of political communication, improving education on the subject of politics is a great place to start. Throughout my college career I have claimed that I had a solid grasp on politics, but as many of you who have read my blogs, that may not be the case. My prior knowledge on the subject of politics comes from an American Government class that I took my senior year in high school. Well if many of you are like me, my senior year high school agenda consisted of sports, girls and graduating. The amount of classes offered regarding politics was very limited. The curriculum of the politics classes I did take only touched on the basics of our countries from of government. The lack of relevant courses to politics in our education system may be a factor on why I lacked so much knowledge on the subject or many can argue it was just personal choice to not research the topic more. Lazy or not, the lack of education provided on the subject of politics is currently one of the reasons why our generation is considered so disengaged. Our education system is lacking in the area of politics not just because of my personal experience, but from fellow students that lacked any knowledge of politics prior to his class. Recently, our teacher gave us the chance to answer questions that other fellow students asked regarding politics. Many of us answered those questions verbally and with the statement, “before I took this class I knew very little about politics”. One fellow student stated that “before I took this class I didn’t even want to engage in conversations with my friends that involved politics because I didn’t know anything”. Many of the questions that were asked on that day involved improving areas of politics and the only answer I could think of was improving education.

I’m a firm believer that the best time to mold minds and to fill minds full of knowledge it at a younger age. In order to improve engagement or knowledge in politics it must be implemented at a younger age. The reason being is that during this time period the mind is influenced by outside sources, but doesn’t distinguish right from wrong. The outside influences can be parents, idols, siblings, or even pop culture. Pop culture as seen in examples from class is intertwined with politics. Examples such as www.youtube.com hosting political debates in 2008 or celebrity’s ads to improve voting like “vote or die”. Other examples such as the famous “Obama poster” or even the photos taken of celebrities with nails in their mouths and fish hooks as seen in class, all have an impact on a young persons mind. By informing the younger generations early in their lives, they can understand the reason for these influences and form their own opinions. From this gain of knowledge they can then grasp the concept of politics easier into adulthood.

Our recent class period touched on the subject of education and how it can be improved. Examples were given from a variety of groups discussing a variety of topics. One group had the subject of political engagement and when asked to fix the current problem, they responded with implementing politics classes in our education system at a younger age.

To improve political communication in our nation it starts from the ground up. It starts from the educational system in middle school requiring a political class of some fashion, informing the students of nation’s political system. The same type of system should be required in high school, but focuses on sub cultures of politics such as the influence pop culture has on politics, or how to properly research legit political information this way that at least those that don’t want to go to college or can’t afford can at least be knowledge enough to form their own opinions based off of learning. Continuing up the ranks of the education system college currently offers a wide variety of political classes, but very few universities require them. By requiring a politics class in college all the incoming freshmen can then build their current knowledge of politics ever more due to the more relaxed atmosphere. This process would then influence our culture because politics has been required in education and in turn would change many aspects of politics in our culture we currently see.

Resulting from this type of system, people would be able to form their own opinions on political issues because they have some form of knowledge pertaining to the political realm. Individuals in high school, college or in the workforce would then in turn vote more so based off of knowledge than influence from a movie star. Furthermore, prior knowledge of politics due to the education system would influence political engagement among the masses. I believe that more people would be inclined to focus on politics and engage more on a community, local or state level.

I realize that there would be flaws in the system, but what current system in any fashion satisfies everyone? This system would only benefit politics at the interpersonal, public and cultural level. It would shed ignorance and influence outcomes of elections because the majority of voters would vote more so on the issues instead of candidates popularity among celebrities (at least I hope).

The shift our culture has taken as of recent years in the realm of politics only glorifies the implication of ignorance in politics. Candidates in recent years have tapped into pop culture and used its influence on the masses to gain votes. At first glance this seems like a strategic move, but after truly looked at what was going on I felt as though my slight knowledge of politics had been robbed. The reason being that candidates of recent years were taping into the uninformed populous presenting an image not of the prestige position they were running for. For example, in the past presidential campaign some candidates were promoting their candidacy on WWE Monday night raw (World Wresting Entertainment). With education in the realm of politics at least people like me can’t blame elections on ignorant people voting for a candidate because they went to a WWE show.

Presently, in order to fix political communication we as individuals would have to stress the importance of education in politics. There would have to be a change in the educational system in our country because many believe that our current generation is politically disengaged so it can only get worse for future generations. Individually and or collectively our generation can shape future generations because outcomes of the future is controlled in the present. The system that I have given may or may not work, but the overall concept I am trying to reach is that there needs to be change in education. At least a change will imply that our generation cares about the future and futures generation’s engagement in politics.