After the UK’s recent EU referendum i have spent some time thinking about my friends and family reaction to the brexit. First of all i would like to state that this post will not be promoting a certain political party, this is written from complete neutral standpoint and i also don't claim to be an expert.
So in the UK you can register to vote at the age of 16 and then you must be 18 to actually place your vote, 16 also being the age you leave secondary school. I think it would be beneficial that children between the ages of 15-16, so in the last two years of school, are educated in the world of politics.This lesson should be taught from a very neutral standpoint as you don't want one set of political values being forced onto the class teenagers by a teacher who has very strong political views . I think these classes should outline some of these topics below and keep an unbiased view:
Political Systems
The Origins of Democracy
Development of Democracy in the UK
The Democratic Ideal, Constitutions and the Separation of Powers
The UK Constitution
Parliamentary Democracy in the UK
The Political Spectrum in the UK
Political Parties in the UK
The Current Political Climate in the UK
These topics were taken from a document i read earlier, A beginners guide to politics in the UK.
I think that if you are giving people the opportunity to vote and for the outcome of this vote to have an impact on our countries future then these people should be educated in how politics and democracy works. In which direction they take their political values after this stage is solely dependant on their personal opinions and beliefs but at least they have a better foundation to make these decisions.I think this would have massively helped the 18-24 age range in the EU referendum as we only saw 36% of this population vote which is very disappointing. I am talking from experience, i also struggled a lot to get my head around the recent referendum, i spent a lot of time speaking to colleagues about politics at work and i find people are very quick to push their biased opinions onto you. I did feel out of my depth when the EU referendum came round and i think if i had received this foundation knowledge whilst i was still in the education system i would have been in a better place to make a decision. Now i don't think this is made any easier by politicians themselves as they are known for being very good at twisting their debates and their stats to suit their campaign and this makes politics even harder to get your head round.
I don't think this needs to be a bulky topic or subject in schools, but i do feel young people need to be given a basic understanding which will benefit them in the the very near future when the time comes to vote. I feel our education system in the UK leaves out many topics which are most defiantly not too advanced for secondary school pupils and they are very important life lessons for the future, i may expand on this in a further post. comment or up vote if you agree, disagree or have any questions.
