At 16, Calif. Students Say They're Ready To Vote
Pooja Shah and Will Hunter volunteer at the election table for the MyVote California student mock election. Ki-Min Sung/NPR hide caption
Pooja Shah and Will Hunter volunteer at the election table for the MyVote California student mock election.
Ki-Min Sung/NPREngaging Youth
How can parents raise politically engaged individuals? The Constitutional Rights Foundation has some recommendations.
Blair International students fill out their MyVote California student mock election ballots during a lunchtime election. Ki-Min Sung/NPR hide caption
Blair International students fill out their MyVote California student mock election ballots during a lunchtime election.
Ki-Min Sung/NPRTeaching U.S. history is easier in an election year.
"There's automatic engagement; there's automatic relevance to everything," history teacher Alfredo Mathew of Blair International Baccalaureate School in Pasadena, Calif., tells Madeleine Brand.
But his students' excitement comes with frustration — mostly because they are too young to vote.
The issue that most concerns them? The economy. And in some cases, they see the issue differently than their parents.
Students' votes — cast in a mock election at school — were influenced by information-gathering that extended far beyond their families, they say. Can you guess who won?
(You can read about the results of the statewide mock election on our blog.)