You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful, And You're Ready To Vote

Today, my class had a socratic seminar based off of an article we had been assigned to read. The class was separated into two groups: males and females. Unfortunately, I believe this separation affected the females more than the males. Our discussion wasn’t as enthusiastic as I had hoped and we seemed to drift away from the real purpose of this socratic seminar which was discussing the text in detail. There were a few passionate females in our group and I believe I was one of these particular few.

To ensure that I would progress in the socratic seminar, I made sure that I understood many of the key points that the author seemed to point out. By reading over the article several times annotating it in detail, I was able to gain a general understanding of the article’s purpose. Also, by writing down questions that I made while annotating, I addressed them and incorporated them into the conversation. Throughout the seminar, I feel as if though I said my ideas and went straight to the point instead of adding too much extra detail that wasn’t necessary. My belief is that I contributed to the conversation greatly and provided a subtle passion for the subject that helped the flow and got other people involved in our seminar. Although, next time it would be beneficial to everyone if we encouraged the not as talkative members and probed them into the conversation.

Throughout the discussion there were many ideas and arguments brought up that struck my attention. One of the author’s comments that stuck out to me the most was where it was recommended that a test should be formed that sixteen year olds must pass to be eligible to vote. In my opinion this is a wasted effort. Not only would it take money to create this test, but precious time would be wasted on an issue that isn’t important to the majority of sixteen year olds. Time should be spent on other matters of more importance and if sixteen year olds wanted to vote, there would be another movement as there was in 1975. This isn’t the case and many teenagers haven’t even had a job yet, so why should they be allowed to vote on matters that don’t concern them as much as if they were eighteen.

Newer and Fresher = Better?

Many of us want someone who is willing to not just talk about change, but actually perform actions that enforce change. Barack Obama seems to represent everything the youth stands for. Not only does he represent it, he acts upon and uses it to support his liberal ideas. He has captivated the attention of everyone of all ages throughout the United States, even the people who do not have suffrage. Obama is not your typical candidate for president though. He was brought up with evangelical values, but does not let that get in the way of his political views. His opponent Hillary Clinton seems to be grabbing most of the women votes, but many people still feel she is too conservative for what America needs. What does America need? In my opinion it is someone who believes in a new progressive lifestyle and decides to change this nation not because of incumbent duties, but because that person actually has a compassionate love for the country we live in. The general youth of the US has come together into a coalition that supports and believes in everything Obama stands for. What does Barack Obama stand for? He stands for change.