Willing to participate: Political engagement of young adults

Article: Willing to participate: Political engagement of young adults (PDF)

Objectives

• To consider the variety of ways in which political involvement might occur.
• To understand how and why individuals could affect social change.

Classroom instructions

1. Ask your students what it means to be politically involved. Have them explore whether certain actions could be considered political without necessarily being recognized as such. Have them provide examples of such behaviour. What are acceptable and unacceptable forms of political participation? In general, what are the political responsibilities of government? Of individual citizens?
2. Think of some problems of which students may have first-hand knowledge, for example, knowing someone who has been laid off or experiencing health challenges. How can someone at the individual level work to bring about change as a consequence of a personal experience? Ask the students how they would go about trying to implement change.
3. Ask the class what they think draws someone to choose politics as a vocation. Are some individuals or groups in society more likely to participate or have their voices heard? How can Canadians ensure that the most qualified candidates are selected to represent them?
4. Engage your class in a discussion of voting as a right or a privilege. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the political system in Canada in terms of the political system in other countries. Why might young Canadianborn adults be more likely to vote than young people born abroad? Discuss the importance of voting.
5. Young adults are much less likely to vote than seniors, but they are much more engaged in non-voting political activity. Explore reasons why these seemingly contradictory trends exist. Explore various innovative techniques to promote voting among young adults.

Using other resources

• See teacher resources by subject for Civics.
• Crompton, S. Autumn 2002. "Vox populi:Canadians who speak up." Canadian Social Trends.

Educators

You may photocopy "Lesson plan" or any item or article in Canadian Social Trends for use in your classroom.

Please e-mail comments or examples of how you used this exercise in your class.