After taking AP U.S. history last year, I decided to skip the stress of more IDs and all-nighters by not taking AP Euro as a senior. Instead, because I wanted to take a social studies elective, I chose to enroll in government and politics. My dad had always taught me to keep up with current events and motivated me to have an understanding of what was happening in the world around me. Leaving the newspaper out for me to read, forcing me to watch national news with him until it became my routine and talking to me about local government issues and events were just some of the things he did to try and get me involved.

I felt pretty prepared for the class knowing I had at least some background on the current state of the union. Throughout the beginning of the year, as we went through the curriculum, I was surprised to realize just how little the class as a whole knew about the country. I will never forget the first week of school, when we were given a series of pictures of government officials and asked to name them. I was shocked to see that so many people couldn’t even name our vice president, Joe Biden.

As the year went on, I definitely saw a change in the class as people started to realize how big of a role they could play in our government. More people started to raise their hands, ask questions and engage in controversial discussion that made everything a lot more exciting.

Now that the class has ended, it’s clear to me that government and politics should be a priority for students in order to better future generations. If young people do not get in the habit of staying up to date with current events and gaining an understanding of how our government actually works, the less likely they will be to participate in government and take advantage of their voting rights later on. Making government and politics a required class is necessary in order to prevent this from happening. Luckily, the school has already been thinking about this possibility. Next year, AP government and politics will be offered to students as well as the regular course. In addition, according to humanities director Tony Bradburn, civics will be offered as a required course in two years. This class will incorporate current events, government and politics into one course.

Niles North is definitely going in the right direction by making this change. Educating our students on matters of the country is a way to ensure that the country will continue to prosper as the years go on. March is coming up. Election season is the perfect time to find your voice, so let’s get going.