Friday February 28, 2014
R A C L E O
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TSTRATFORD HE Volume 41, Issue 7
,.
Double-Take Pg. 8 Photo by
shsoracle.com
t u O Katherine Kennedy
@spartanoracle
ception that today’s generation of youth is unaware and unconcerned with cur-
rent events. This month, a group of 176 college-bound seniors in AP Government took a survey, shown at the right side of the page, to test their knowledge of current events. The majority of students surveyed answered less than half of the
Youth Today
Anything and everything one could possibly need to know is just a web search away. Trending political topics, influential people, and political powerhouses can be identified and researched with the click of a button. Yet, the mass availability of instant information seems to be making no difference when it comes to student awareness of global affairs. “Information and current events are so easy to access. We can know what’s going on this second wherever in the world, and yet we don’t know. We don’t want to get educated because it’s tough to see, tough to know that ultimately, we are in some small way partially responsible for a lot of different things,” AP Biology teacher Davy Barrett said. It seems to be a growing per-
Rebecca Williamson
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questions correctly. This goes to support the general belief that youth today are uninformed on current events.
Youth Opinions
With the pressures of high school, many teens have trouble keeping up with current events. When asked if they wished they knew more about national and global affairs, over 90-percent of surveyed students said yes. However, some teenagers think having a broad understanding of national and global affairs isn’t necessary.
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Today’s youth struggle to stay informed
“I keep up with the current events I want to keep up with. I don’t really care about politics. I don’t think it has anything to do with me,” Weijie Cheng said. Oftentimes, people don’t care what evidence or statistics have to say. “I think that people aren’t interested in the facts. They’d rather listen to opinions,” senior Leo Young said.
Adult Opinions
Before the days of cable television, Netflix and Twitter, watching daily news broadcasts and reading the newspaper were common occurrences. “When I was growing up we would watch the nightly news. Today, everyone’s so busy that they don’t h a v e [the] time,” A P United States Histor y teacher Jane Duke said. Now, there are hundreds of options on cable television instead of only a handful of channels broadcasting strictly news programs to watch in the evenings.
Why Stay Informed
Even if you don’t aspire to be a successful politician or famous journalist, a broad knowledge of national and global affairs will serve you well. Most college professors expect their students to be aware of current events. If you are sitting in an introductory government class with 300 other students, the professor is not going to take
the time to introduce key political figures. A basic familiarity with major names like Harry Reid and John Kerry will be expected and necessary for success in class. However, only 16-percent of surveyed students identified John Kerry as the Secretary of State and an even smaller percentage, 7-percent, knew that Harry Reid is the Senate Majority Leader. In an informal and conversational setting, an understanding of current events can be very beneficial. In order to not sound like a blundering idiot, you should have some idea of what is happening in our country and around the world. This w a y , y o u will b e able t o eng a ge i n conversations and appreciate others’ perspectives and
opinions. If you don’t see any pertinent need for an awareness of current events now, you should in the future. As a citizen, you have the right to vote, and to make informed decisions you need to have a general understanding of the issues our country is facing and affairs around the world.
How to Stay Informed
There are plenty of easy and painless ways to stay informed without pouring over a dense newspaper everyday. Twitter accounts like @foxnews and @ny-
times tweet often and will keep you familiar with headliner stories in 140 characters or less. Nightly news shows are also a great source of current events. However, the programs have commercials and air at inconvenient times. Try recording a 30-minute show, like “ABC World News,” and watch it during breakfast the next morning. This way, you can fast forward the commercials and get through the halfhour show in about 20 minutes. You will be up-to-date on trending newsworthy topics in no time.
One popular and painless source of current events is theSkimm. TheSkimm is an email service that briefs subscribers on everything ranging from political conflicts to major sporting events in one message. The key to being informed is making an intentional effort to learn about what’s happening in the world. Today, it’s easy to miss trending issues or to only pay attention to the ones that directly affect you. The time of reading the newspaper every morning and listening to the President’s radio addresses in the evening is gone. We have a plethora of resources to keep us informed, we just need to know how to use it.
@stratfordoracle
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE United States Affairs
1. What political party holds the majority in the House of Representatives? 2. What political party holds the majority in the Senate? 3. Who is the Speaker of the House? 4. Who is the Senate Majority Leader? 5. Who is the Secretary of State? 6. Who is the White House Press Secretary? 7. Who is the Vice President? 8. What American is commonly known for starting the NSA leaks and is seeking asylum in Russia?
Global Affairs
1. What Middle Eastern country has been experiencing a three-year civil war and recently started peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland? 2. Who is the President of Syria? 3. Where are the 2014 Winter Olympics? 4. Who is the President of Russia?
Turn to Page 3
to view quiz answers and AP Government student results. Graphics by Kali Venable