<p>It just angers me that it seems as if nobody cares about our country's future. Today i heard more kids talking about some spice girl concert than anything else. Some kids don't even know what a primary is, ahhh it just angers me. There was even some kid the other day who asked what super Tuesday was</p>
<p>i just need somewhere to rant.....</p>
<p>anyway how is it in your school?</p>
<p>Do you have a debate team? If you do, just hang out in there for about an hour and half after school, and you'll get your fix of politics.</p>
<p>Um. It's pretty bad. I'm in AP Govt class. Maybe...out of 20 students, maybe 10 notice the news. But, for people who really follow it, 4 in 20 in my AP Govt class. But generally, I'd say it's about 2 in 30 for knowing the general direction of politics. And within that, maybe one person who really follows it. It definitely depends on the group of kids that are in your classes. But, that's my general estimate.</p>
<p>At my school people talk about politics without really knowing what's going on. It's nice to know that they care, but I'd feel better if they would look into things a bit more.</p>
<p>everyone at my school thinks obama is amazing...yet they dont know why. they think it just b/c he is a good speaker, is younger, and says the word "change" every minute as a buzzowrd that he never bothers to explain.</p>
<p>I just pm-ed you...</p>
<p>But... I guess out of the "AP" kids at my school (we self-segregate), probably about 20% follow politics...</p>
<p>We have two veeeeeeeery political history teachers--a libertarian and a pseudosocialist--so anyone who takes a class with either of those has politics forced onto them. But most kids just like Obama anyway. It's terribly frustrating.</p>
<p>
[quote]
everyone at my school thinks obama is amazing...yet they dont know why. they think it just b/c he is a good speaker, is younger, and says the word "change" every minute as a buzzowrd that he never bothers to explain.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>WOW. Thank you! That is exactly how it is in my school! It angers me.</p>
<p>I enjoy seeing that people are interested in politics at least, but they are interested on such a superficial level that is actually just annoying.</p>
<p>People here like Obama because he grew up in Hawaii, which ****es me off since I think they should vote on political merits rather than state pride or whatever it is that goes on in these people's minds. (style over substance...)</p>
<p>Most kids at my school will say they hate Bush, but when you ask them why they will simply reply with "he looks like a monkey", or "he talks funny". When my history teacher showed us Loose Change, the whole class was shouting furiously that "the government did it" when the teacher asked us what we thought. I'm not pro-Bush but come on people, that's an issue of common sense, not partisanship.</p>
<p>/endrant</p>
<p>Hahaha Barack Obama and "CHANGE"...I completely agree with westsidewolf/optimization.</p>
<p>but it doesn't really bother me when people aren't interested, because honestly, we're still pretty young to have decisive opinions about the economy, foreign policy, and immigration, especially since we know very little about any of these topics and are too young to have lived during different presidencies to have a personal feel for what works and what doesn't. </p>
<p>I think most of the political beliefs of high school students are driven by conformity and trying to be hip...i.e. in Los Angeles it's cool to be liberal and to hate Bush (a "don't worry about why" conviction)...so it kind of disgusts me to see everyone's facebook saying "Political Views: Liberal" when I know that these people have never shown any intellectual interest in politics or american history and are simply trying to fit in. </p>
<p>I'd rather see an 18-year-old say he/she is unsure about politics than to see him/her be "completely convinced" one way or the other. There's nothing scarier than a closed mind, especially at age 18.</p>
<p>Sorry that was kinda long...</p>
<p>...I'm glad I'm too young to vote. Otherwise I wouldn't know who to vote for.</p>
<p>at my school, a good number of the students are quite politically-aware...</p>
<p>a lot of kids at my school do actually...and my school isnt political at all</p>
<p>YES...WE....CAN!!!!!! lol</p>
<p>fizix 2, your too young to vote? aren't you at caltech? are you some sort of super genius?</p>
<p>In response to the OP's question: 2.</p>
<p>Students in my gov class are for the most part really into politics. Our school also has a pretty good Model UN team, which is filled with people obsessed about politics. Regarding political views, the students who pay attention to politics are pretty spread out. There's a few McCain, Romney, Clinton, Obama and Paul supporters out there, although I will say there is a larger percentage of Obama supporters. It's unfortunate though that many of these kids are pretty well informed of current issues and knowledgeable, but none of us can vote since we're underage.</p>
<p>But in general, the older a h.s student is, the more involved in politics they are. If I were to total it up, I'd say at least 100 in the entire school.</p>
<p>
[quote]
are you some sort of super genius?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not really, but I'm certainly flattered :)</p>
<p>Like, 2 .</p>
<p>Anyone with the two Govt teachers is currently being dunked face-first into politics (aka, almost all seniors.) Our school news crew, for announcements, went around to students asking them about the primary and their preferred candidate. The younger they were, the more painful it was. </p>
<pre><code> I also happen to live in a conservative county so it's not unusual for me to be the lone liberal democrat (I know there are more in the class but they are usually too timid going up against the hot-heated non-logical shouters -- fortunately our teacher cares about the process of thought and stops stupidity in its tracks) as the debates continue in Govt and trail into other classes. I'm feel freaking blessed having such a talented teacher (right out of college) who is so into the process. Just by him always playing devil's advocate my graduating class has begin to gasp Think.
</code></pre>
<p>For democrats, Obama gets the most support whereas for Republicans it is McCain with some scattered Huck (Romney when he was still in the race), and couple Ron Paul (AUGH) just because they like the old guy.
And as for the hating Bush, I died internally back in 2000 and 2004 when he was elected and I was being swarmed by his supporters from every which way 'debating' (too naive to call it that...) how the other person is the flip-flopper... no, they actually didn't know issues (?!) Anyway, finally feels right in the world that my community has finally woken up the Bush-mentality. Albeit, they still aren't very informed but at least now they have a small knowledge bank. I keep praying the growth will dramatically continue to climb for college next year.</p>
<p>---> And two thumbs up for voting!</p>