Alli Adams
Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board.
College gets busy. Students choose to spend their free time studying, attending sporting events, hanging out with friends or doing whatever else fills up their daily life. You won’t find many college students who research politics in their spare time, which is understandable — to a point.
It’s challenging to keep up with college life, and it is not crucial to know every single detail about every politician. But it is crucial to be aware of what is happening in the United States.
As people who live in this country, it is a privilege to have a voice in politics, especially by voting. We have put in a great deal of effort to be able to vote in the U.S. In 1920, the U.S. government ratified the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act was passed, which sought to overcome legal barriers that had prevented Black people from exercising their right to vote.
Those victories didn’t fall from the sky. People fought, marched and bled for them. And now, too many college students treat that right like a piece of chewed up gum on a sidewalk.
College students are old enough to vote, yet a lot of the time they don’t because they are simply uninterested. Voting can be overwhelming, and if you feel strongly that it’s not for you, fine. But that doesn’t excuse you from knowing what’s going on. You still need to do your research on U.S. politics.
It’s not hard to stay informed; all you have to do is open a news app on your phone. Remaining well-versed in politics has become so easy with modern technology, yet people still avoid it. Politics have even taken over social media, which may not be the best place to discover news, but it is something. So what excuse do students have? None.
Staying uninformed is simply surrendering your power.
It is exhausting having a conversation with a young person who claims they “don’t follow politics.” What they’re really saying is that they don’t care enough to pay attention to the decisions that shape their own future. Sure, it can be negative and overwhelming, but that’s just reality. Just because something feels stressful doesn’t mean you get to ignore it. That’s like saying making dinner sounds too stressful, effectively letting your family go hungry.
This is your life. You may not think the political world is relevant to you, but it is. Every decision the government makes affects the people you love, your education, your safety, your health and your future. It may not seem like you’re directly linked, but you are. And pretending otherwise doesn’t shield you; it makes you powerless.
If college students want to be taken seriously as the “leaders of tomorrow,” then they need to start acting like it. Start making it a habit to check the news app on your phone every morning. Even if all you read is the headlines, you are still educating yourself. College students are the future, but if they keep claiming to be “too busy” or “too uninterested” to follow politics, then that future looks bleak. Staying uninformed is simply surrendering your power.
Being informed doesn’t mean you need to become a political science major or spend hours glued to Fox News or CNN. It means recognizing that your voice matters and that silence is still a choice — 0ne that leaves the decisions up to someone else.
Every generation before us has had to fight to be heard. College students don’t get a free pass to sit out. So read a headline, watch a debate and have a conversation that makes you uncomfortable. That’s how you grow.
Reach Charlotte Seymour at letters@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.