High School Students: Ideal Voters Who Can’t Vote

This election season has been the most heavily polarized and discussed in modern history. Disputes over candidates and their adequacy to be our next president have become part of everyday conversation. The Grace Church School community is no exception. Despite the fact that most students at GCS are not yet allowed to vote, opinions on the candidates are voiced through passing comments, or, more often, full-on debates over lunch. The way in which these students argue suggests that the next election will be judged by a highly passionate and well-informed group of young individuals.

Many American citizens have given up hope for this upcoming election, but according to the students of GCS High School, America has options. Opinions on what these options are are unique from student to student, but the most interesting thing is how developed each opinion is, considering they are formed by minors who legally have no direct effect on the result of the election.

According to a handful of GCS students, there are three options for voters on election day: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, or a third party candidate, specifically Gary Johnson. In all cases examined for the purpose of this article, each student was strongly opposed to the idea of any candidate other than their prefered candidate coming anywhere near the Oval Office. In fact, according to Julie Morse and Parker Larsen of the sophomore class, the main reason why they prefer Hillary Clinton in particular over other candidates is the fact that she simply isn’t any her competitors, specifically Donald Trump. Larsen furthered her reasoning by stating that Clinton is a more experienced candidate when it comes to important issues such as international relations. There was no student who identified as a Trump supporter willing to be interviewed on the topic of the election, so, as far as this article goes, these opinions will stand unopposed. For some students, their pledge of support came with an unprompted explanation of the reasoning behind their decision. The fact that these high school students were so prepared for such a question demonstrates how personal and important this election is to people of all ages.

When asked what the most pressing issue our next president would have to face would be, everyone who answered provided an extensive explanation to back up their answer. Ben Susser, a sophomore and a loyal supporter of Gary Johnson, states that within our own country, the economy must be addressed first, but the United States also has to make a decision of whether or not to intervene in the Syrian civil war. According to Katherine Ely of the sophomore class, the country needs to make peace its goal and focus specifically on gun violence within the country. No matter who he or she supported, each student showed that they truly cared about the topics mentioned. The range of concerns proves how much each student knows about what is happening in America today and, more importantly, shows how they use this information to form their own unique opinions.

An easy assumption to make about an opinionated teenager is that they’re simply echoing the opinions of those around them such as their family or even by certain articles that might be biased towards a certain candidate. However, each student was able to name a list of notoriously reliable news sources that they use to find information concerning the election. These included The New York Times, NPR, and first hand sources such as the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. The most opinionated sources named by these students were comedy or parody shows such as SNL or Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and only one student listed these as a source.

Ideally, every citizen that is eligible to vote would display as much care for the election as these students have. The next president to take office could change the lives of people of every generation, especially those approaching adulthood, such as the students cited in this article. Based on the attention given to current events, and the well-formed opinions made on respective policies of candidates, the republic can be assured that only educated and calculated decisions will be made by these students when the ballot is in their hands.