Trey Duncan ’21

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In 2016, Donald Trump won the race for presidency. The students at Strake Jesuit, a majority conservative school, celebrated this election whereas the students at St. Agnes, a majority liberal school, were visibly upset. But for what purpose? Why celebrate or be upset? What did that election do to change the lives of those students?

Teenagers should ignore politics until they are at least 17 years old.

The world of politics nowadays has become so hateful among people of different opinions that many kids miss out on good friendships or normal conversations with many great people. Conservatives don’t like talking with liberals and liberals don’t like talking with conservatives. Everyone is so quick to jump to fighting with words on almost every single sentence spoken about policies, candidates, or other partisan issues. And the worst part about it is that the arguing achieves nothing. It’s just arguing for the sake of arguing.

How is any of this good for kids?

There’s a reason why the voting age is 18. It’s because maturity levels and experience with the “real world” dictate that a 15 year-old is unable to make knowledgeable decisions or be responsible for himself. This rule is no different with the drinking or smoking age.

With this new age of the Internet, there is a lot more knowledge and information more easily spread around. But not everything you read online can be trustworthy. Even the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, one of the biggest internet sources, has developed a reputation for wrong information or falsified researches. I mean, how much do you trust a kid who falls for click bait on social media? What does spreading knowledge gained from dubious Internet sources contribute to the elections of who is to govern this country?

Introducing kids to the messiness in politics helps neither kids nor politics. To make their lives less stressful and more enjoyable, kids should ignore politics.