Full transcript
0:02[Music]
0:07[Applause]
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0:11[Applause]
0:23for the past twelve years of my life
0:26I've been counting down the days until I
0:28could turn 18 for one reason to be able
0:32to vote growing up in a household where
0:37both of my parents both actively
0:39followed politics pushed my brother and
0:41I to be engaged in the subject
0:43furthermore both of my parents grew up
0:46during the communist regime in Ethiopia
0:49known as the dirt where they didn't have
0:52any say in how their government
0:53functioned
0:55this for both of these reasons that I've
0:57spent most of my free time focused on
1:00learning how I could better educate
1:02myself and ensure that I could become a
1:04more empowered voter in this country
1:07however I along with millions of other
1:10Americans across the country are in the
1:13minority just thirty one percent of
1:18Americans aged eighteen through twenty
1:20nine voted during the 2018 midterms 31
1:25percent of eligible voters furthermore
1:28just one in three Americans can pass a
1:31citizenship test
1:33one in three that's compared to be
1:36ninety-one percent
1:38immigrant pass rate of that same test
1:41much of this ultimately comes down to
1:44civics education during the 1960s and
1:48the Vietnam War was going on and most of
1:52the federal government thought it would
1:53be a good idea to dumb down civics and
1:55depoliticize of the classroom since then
1:58we've seen voter turnout rates for young
2:00people go from around 50 percent down to
2:03the 31 percent we see today much of this
2:07comes from a lack of strong civics
2:10education that is where in many parts
2:13our school loss out this is a problem
2:15see we only have
2:17three options for civics education it's
2:20ap gov regular civics and Global
2:23Connections however our civics education
2:26requirement is only one semester during
2:29senior year that is a grave problem if
2:35we can further go back and look at some
2:39of the research that's been done a Tufts
2:41University Research Center spent years
2:44looking at civics education analyzing
2:47different classroom settings and
2:48different ways in which we could further
2:50empower our voters and they found one
2:53thing that if we started civics
2:56education and middle or even elementary
2:58school we'd get a higher voter turnout
3:02that would prevent any sort of issues
3:04that we see with the 31% voter turnout
3:07rate and only twenty three percent of
3:10Americans that took the middle school
3:14civics education national exam passed or
3:17exceeded standards and if we further
3:20implement those discussions in the
3:22classroom that's how we can further our
3:24goals civics education is by far the
3:29most important class for any citizen of
3:33this country for one reason it allows
3:36you to understand how we function as a
3:38society it allows you to understand the
3:40different branches of government the
3:42intricacies that go within policymaking
3:44and Congress and allows you to
3:47understand that states for example have
3:50more control over your educational
3:52requirements and not the federal
3:54government it allows you to understand
3:57that it's not just about how laws are
4:00implemented but it's about how the
4:02public receives them and to what extent
4:04they are enforced by our local
4:07governments this is why civics education
4:10is important now there's a common
4:14misconception and complaint by adults
4:16that by increasing more discussions
4:18about politics in our classrooms will
4:21have a over politicized classroom but
4:24I'll ask you this what good is education
4:28as a whole if we cannot have
4:30those conversations amongst our peers in
4:33a classroom discussion in which we can
4:36be challenged on our ideas and not have
4:38to stick to the status quo furthermore
4:42adults could really do more to further
4:44our academic goals as well how are we
4:48supposed to be more educated and
4:50influential in the political system when
4:53people are calling a self-centered or -
4:55fringe right or - socialist left if we
4:59can't have that discussion inside a
5:01classroom with a teacher who's ready to
5:03help answer any questions give an
5:05objective layout as to how politics
5:07works that's when we can finally be able
5:10to get closer to a more empowered voting
5:13electorate look I'm not gonna say that
5:17civics education is a partisan issue
5:20because it really isn't it's an American
5:23issue ensuring that people get
5:25registered and understand how to vote is
5:28not a partisan issue it's an American
5:32issue if we want to have the best
5:34Republican democracy that we can we have
5:38to get out to vote but that's the only
5:42way our society can truly represent the
5:44voices of the millions across this
5:46country now last Thursday I had the
5:50chance to attend a talk at the Flint
5:52Center where James Comey was giving a
5:54speech and irrespective of what you may
5:57think about James Comey I got the chance
5:59to ask him this question if you were to
6:03convince a high school student how to
6:06vote or why they should vote what would
6:10you say he told me this that we would
6:14not have any say in our democracy as a
6:17whole if we didn't actually get out to
6:20vote and while that may be true he fails
6:25to focus on the biggest issue of them
6:28all that how are we supposed to actually
6:30ensure that people get out to vote that
6:33they're active in politics that they
6:34know who which candidates and which
6:37policies are on their ballot if they are
6:39not educated in how we vote
6:43so for even even though I may not be the
6:49most politically active citizen in this
6:53room or even in this school I've sought
6:56out ways in which I can further
6:57understand this society through my
7:00writing as a journalist I've sought
7:02methods in which I could try to bring a
7:04new perspective to share a new voice as
7:07to how we could further impact our
7:09community whether that's covering the
7:11local city council elections to
7:14discussing our March for our lives
7:16protests last year in understanding
7:18student protest dynamics I am slowly but
7:23surely trying to ensure that I can be a
7:26more active and productive member of
7:29this community and of this country now I
7:32know many of you may be thinking well
7:36what what can we do what what can you do
7:40because I know many of you in here are
7:42under the age of 17 16 or may slowly
7:47just be arriving to your first ever
7:49election and well you can do a lot you
7:52can campaign whether that be door
7:56knocking phone banking talking to your
7:58representatives understanding their
8:00perspectives you can write about it for
8:03your local communities you can further
8:05the ways in which you can impact your
8:08community directly by just starting
8:10conversations that doesn't have to be in
8:13just the classroom it can be during
8:15brunch lunch after school you can have
8:19one-on-one conversations with your
8:20teachers about understanding different
8:22political opinions it's not really just
8:25restricted to the classroom that being
8:28said if we truly wanted civics education
8:32to be a part of everyone's lives then we
8:36should start right in the classroom I'll
8:39say it again that if you don't want this
8:42opportunity to pass it up like if if we
8:45truly want to have a say if we want to
8:48be the ones in charge of our own
8:49education if we don't want to allow
8:52certain older people to have a stronger
8:56influence on Howard
8:57Behrman functions there's truly only one
9:00way we can do that and that's by voting
9:04thank you
9:06[Applause]
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