I teach at a public high school for "profoundly gifted" kids, and work pretty much exclusively with 16+ students. They're all very smart, and range from libs to somewhat better than normal libs (we had one open ML, but he graduated a few years ago). They all think Trump is a fucking dumbass. As with every election, a big crop of our seniors is going to be eligible to vote for the first time this year.

For the first time in the decade or so that I've worked here, pretty much every single one of them has said they don't intend to vote. They hate Biden almost as much as Trump, either because they condemn the genocide in Israel or just because they (correctly) believe that he has done nothing to actually benefit them. This is a population of kids who are much more politically engaged than your average teenager, and vote turnout in previous years has been high. I was actually very surprised at how many of them expressed contempt for the whole process this year, and indicated that they were totally uninterested in supporting Biden (and of course would not support Trump). I'm guessing this is part of a big trend that we're going to see this year, and I'm preparing myself for libs blaming young people--for whom Biden has done little but make their future demonstrably worse--for Democrats' loss.

I'm trying to convince all of them to vote anyway, just for some third party that speaks to them. Yesterday, we talked about PSL, Cornel West, the Greens, and Afroman for a bit. It would be incredibly funny to see young people reject Biden/Trump, and yet turn out in record numbers anyway. The narrative that kids are just too addicted to their phones to vote would fall apart. I'll keep working on it.

No real point here, just im-doing-my-part

  • Philosoraptor [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    10 months ago

    For most of them it was just President. They've seen how much local shit (like the school board) can matter. We're in a very purple area that could swing fash pretty easily.

    • duderium [he/him]
      ·
      10 months ago

      I got elected to some local positions in a purple area and my experience has been that local democrats are just as insane as national ones. You should try to invite some into your classroom and watch the fireworks (although they almost certainly won’t come because they are terrified of being embarrassed by people who get their news from places other than MSNBC). Those supposedly pro-trans members of the school board are still voting to dump shitloads of money on the Nazi police.