What Is Politics?

That was a question I kept asking myself during the midterm elections. So many kids across the United States don't know the answer, and honestly, I'm not sure I do either. I barely know where to begin to understand politics.

While everything was happening, I felt left out. I went through a lot of emotions, but the main one was sadness, mostly because I realized how uneducated I am on the subject. That hits me hard. I go to school seven to eight hours a day, and I still don't know where to start forming an educated opinion about what I believe is right. I'm sure many other students in the U.S. feel the same way, though I can't speak for them.

What frustrates me most is that I have an entire class dedicated to U.S. Government, and we learn almost nothing. Some students might think that sounds like the best class ever, since doing nothing sounds great. But what happens when we get to the ballot box and don't have the slightest idea what to do? This country will not survive if we can't learn the pros and cons of each candidate.

The night of the election, I sat down and cried because I didn't know where to start looking things up to understand what was going on. And it seems some adults don't know either. I was talking to a man and asked him to explain democracy and politics, and he couldn't. We ended up sitting down and learning about it together. That is just plain sad.

Our school systems have let us down, but it isn't entirely their fault. They can only teach what the state provides, and clearly that isn't much. I've said many times, "I don't need to know what George Washington ate for breakfast on a certain day. I want to learn things that actually matter and will be useful to me now."

That doesn't mean learning history is bad. We need to know the past so we don't repeat it. But we also need to add more to the mix. I, and probably many students like me, want to be able to understand the election that just happened.

I'm not saying I'm completely clueless. I know the basics of politics, and I have beliefs based on what I know. But could everyone be a little more educated? Of course! It's always worth learning about the things that will shape your future.

So if you take anything away from this piece, let it be this: spend time researching your future. You never know what it holds, but you can be ready for whatever comes. So go right now, look up the latest news in politics, and get ready for the next election.

It's a little ironic that I'm writing this on Veterans Day, a day to honor the people who fought and died for this country and the freedoms we have, including the right to vote. Think about that.

Emerson Taylor, 15, is a student at Tahlequah High School in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.