I teach at a public high school for “profoundly gifted” kids, and work pretty much exclusively with 16+ students. They’re all very smart, and range from libs to somewhat better than normal libs (we had one open ML, but he graduated a few years ago). They all think Trump is a fucking dumbass. As with every election, a big crop of our seniors is going to be eligible to vote for the first time this year.
For the first time in the decade or so that I’ve worked here, pretty much every single one of them has said they don’t intend to vote. They hate Biden almost as much as Trump, either because they condemn the genocide in Israel or just because they (correctly) believe that he has done nothing to actually benefit them. This is a population of kids who are much more politically engaged than your average teenager, and vote turnout in previous years has been high. I was actually very surprised at how many of them expressed contempt for the whole process this year, and indicated that they were totally uninterested in supporting Biden (and of course would not support Trump). I’m guessing this is part of a big trend that we’re going to see this year, and I’m preparing myself for libs blaming young people–for whom Biden has done little but make their future demonstrably worse–for Democrats’ loss.
I’m trying to convince all of them to vote anyway, just for some third party that speaks to them. Yesterday, we talked about PSL, Cornel West, the Greens, and Afroman for a bit. It would be incredibly funny to see young people reject Biden/Trump, and yet turn out in record numbers anyway. The narrative that kids are just too addicted to their phones to vote would fall apart. I’ll keep working on it.
No real point here, just
can you post this in /r/teachers or something? it would be pretty funny
The post would be deleted and/or he would be banned almost immediately.
Would still be hilarious though
young people reject Biden/Trump, and yet turn out in record numbers anyway. The narrative that kids are just too addicted to their phones to vote would fall apart.
that’s exactly when the democrats will start supporting the republican initiative to raise the voting age
Not unreasonable to believe they’ll limit voting to landowners at some point
I don’t know history but wasn’t that a thing way back when
That was how it was when the country was founded. The founders believed that only people who owned land had a “stake” in the country, whereas I suppose the 90% of people who didn’t were just cattle to be herded.
Oh shit I just realized. “Stakeholder capitalism” is supposed to be about getting the people affected by pollution making decisions about polluting corporations, but they’re going to turn it into this.
I can totally see voting being framed as “privilege” of some kind in the future
Especially as corporations continue to buy up houses
In many local Australian elections, capitalists are literally given extra votes.
I don’t think they would ever want to ever or restrict “democracy”. The pageantry of voting and politicians having dramatic struggles within a ridiculously limited band of accepted reactionary opinion is doing wonders for consent manufacture. It creates an illusion of choice and secures a buy-in to the regime from the people. It also diffuses discontent into harmless electoralism rather than other, more fruitful methods of political action. It even gives them one more thing to add to the list of reasons why the aryan master race of the garden are superior to the savages of the jungle. And it’s not like it’s actually causing any real harm to the people who matter whether people vote for the blue or the red clown.
They could just go back to the old way and say you can only vote if you own land. Gen Z would never vote again
That’s kind of how it works de facto even if not de jure. The middle class that can afford home ownership are the ones most active in politics and driving the machinery. That’s why American politics are split between petty bourgeois red team and professional/managerial strata blue team and their cultural neuroses. Shoutout to the 2016 film Catfight with Sandra Oh for capturing that dynamic. Just two terrible people kicking the shit out of each other and making all of our lives worse for it
I’ve heard that dichotomy before, but I think that’s just where the aesthetics of politics end up being split: Between petty bourgeois reactionaries and managerial libs. I think the reality is closer to domestic/industrial capitalists versus financial capitalists, and both of those have representative middle class avatars.
This may be a bad idea but maybe you could talk about Vermin Supreme and use that as an opportunity to explore the role of protest (& protest vote) and the limits of it, and things like critically analysing his platform.
You’d be able to do a cost breakdown of his “a pony for every American” policy and discuss what it’s satirising both from a historical perspective and a contemporary perspective as well as looking at what sort of shifts in the budget or what sort of tax policy would need to exist to make this a reality. You could also talk about it from the perspective of economic implications as a sort of Equine New Deal angle too.
I think it would be fun but it would still teach a lot of serious lessons. If the students walk away realising that it’s entirely within the realms of financial practicality to provide a pony for every American then you don’t need to tell them that universal healthcare is also just as much of a possibility and you won’t need to try to make a case for why presidential candidates claim that certain things are a financial impossibility.
If a pony for every American is completely possible then when someone tells that student “It isn’t possible to provide housing for all the homeless people”, they’re just going to laugh in their faces because if they know that pony is possible then a home is even easier and more practical.
This is a fabulous idea. It would fit the radical politics class to a T. I’ll add it to the schedule. Thanks!
Thank God you don’t teach at at regular-ass public school.
I’ve been doing substitute teaching and good God every last little shit is a goddamn nazi.
Thank God you don’t teach at at regular-ass public school.
I’ve been doing substitute teaching and good God every last little shit is a goddamn nazi.
Amen to that. Thank you for your service, comrade. I’m sure it’s incredibly hard, but you’re making a difference even if it doesn’t always feel like it.
Looks like Dems will have to choose a more electable candidate
