DISCUSSION: Students involvement in politics

This has been a topic that’s been around for a while, so I wanted to see what people in the forums felt. What do you think about students wanting to participate in politics? Or organising things like protests in order to change the way things work in their countries? Have you done anything of the sort?

I’m incredibly lucky to come from a very accepting family, who don’t agree with my social/political views and the way I go about sharing them, but they still got my back. I try to be as politically active as possible, ever since I got interested in politics back in like…2016 with the U.S elections (i’m not even from the US, I just think their politics are very, very interesting). If you don’t know much about my country’s (Colombia) situation: we just came out of a 50 year war with a peace treaty that completely divided the country between people in favor and people against. Then, with tensions as high as they were, we had a presidential election which divided the country even more.

Basically, everyone is angry at each other.

With this in mind, and the fact that I was definitely influenced by my very liberal (no, people in the US, not the liberals you’re used to) and revolutionary teachers, it was kind of hard for me not to get involved in politics. Honestly, I feel like the best way to start is by making changes within the community you’re a part of. For example, last year, I began pushing for a sexual education reform. Both to get a better sexual education (the one we had was pretty crappy) and because it excluded LGBT+ education from the curriculum. Which can be seen as unconstitutional. While I’m pushing for the reform in more schools and working to get it to the government, I’ve also been focusing on environmental problems like climate change and what we call “fraking”.

So… yeah! I def recommend it. I would love to hear your experiences too, or your opinions for that matter. Sorry for the long post, there was just a lot to say.

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Holy shit girly you’re amazing! I think it’s extremely important for students to get involved in politics! Especially since us kids will be the ones choosing the leader of our country (in the US) in just a few years at least for me. It’s important to establish your views and learn and see if that influences your opinions. I’m sorry if this doesn’t make any sense I am just super tired :joy:.

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Aw, thanks! I def agree with you. We students (kids, teens, young adults in college) have a huge responsibility to learn from the mistakes of the generations that came before. One of the things I admire the most about my generation (gen X) is the fact that we have such a strong fighting spirit, and don’t take everything politicians or our parents take for granted.

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Hell yes!

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I’m not from the US either. I may not be invested in their politics, but I am somewhat invested in the politics of my current coutnry of residence. my mother thinks that it is wrong for me to express my political views and opnions as I was orginally not a citizen of this country, I was an immigrant.
In a week I have to give a speech about about an issue in the nation that I am passionate about. While I am satisfied with how the country is being run thusfar, there is one topic which I feel needs to be adressed. It is to do with my original country, the one where I lived before here. It’s a sensitive issue, not spoken about. My mother is completely against the idea of me even questiong the governemnt. She is in complete and total support of the governemnt - the government of our home country was incredibly corrupt, while she was raised in a wealthy family she couldn’t halp but feel saddenned by the constant grief of the people surrounding her, therefore she loves the one here.
While I respect her, I feel as though I should be able to express how I feel.

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I definently think students should get involved in politics as much as they can before they go to polls. Even from protests or having a class discussion can help build a foundation of how their country’s politics work. Personally I have only participated in one protest, and I’d rather not talk about because I had a sort of bad experience.

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I can see where your mom is coming from. But still; no government is perfect. No ruler is ever the hero they portray themselves to be- and that’s to be expected. They’re humans. It’s great to hear that you’re taking action, even if your mom doesn’t want you to. Parents get disappointed, that’s a part of life. I’m sure she’ll understand one day. And even if she doesn’t, it’s imporant to create a good environment at home in which, despite political differences, there is still support for one another.

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Yeah. While I usually support protesting since it’s a good way of showing support for a cause and manifesting discomfort over something someone or ssomething s doing, they can sometimes get violent. Which, honestly, I feel doesn’t solve anything. I’ve been in protests where the cops start tear gassing everyone, or people from the side I was on started throwing flares and rocks. It can be mayhem, which is one of the main reasons so many people are against protesting.

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I had mine at school concerning gun violence and (of course) the teenage boys started verbally attacking those who participated. Calling people names and such. One guy even ended up making a classmate of mine cry and he thought it was quite funny. I’m all for standing up in what I believe in, but even when violence isn’t involved, people can be complete a holes.

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Sometimes people get so into their cause or what they believe in that they forget their basic human decency. It’s disgusting.

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