I found Bennett's discussion on the changing citizenship in our younger generations due to the digital age to be very interesting and relate-able. It wasn't until last year that I began actively watching the news and reading in order to keep up with what is going on in politics, the government, and society. I am still not as active as I feel I should be. This is especially true when it comes to politics. I have always highly enjoyed learning about history and the government. So, why was it so difficult to keep myself interested on things that are happening now? It had never occurred to me that it may be because of the way these issues are presented. "Governments that continue to exclude future citizens through
their communication strategies only perpetuate the divided sense of citizen
identity that leads young people to find political outlets outside government.
Given the low costs and potentially broad reach of digital media, there is much
that could be done to improve the daily communication outreach of politicians." (Bennett, 2008, pp. 15) I have never feel a strong connection to my government or political aspects. I do have very strong opinions about issues such as civil rights, the environment, education, etc. It now is clear to me that the reason I never felt those strong ties with the government is because I do not feel like I am a part of it. "Young citizens are among those most blatantly excluded from
the public discourses of government, policy arenas and elections. The result is
that the world of politics and government seems distant, irrelevant, and
inauthentic to many citizens, particularly younger demographics." (Bennett, 2008, pp.13)
A majority of the young people that I know feel the same way. They do not feel a connection with politicians or government officials. They know that even the news channels cannot be trusted to give an unbiased version of what is going on throughout our country and the world. It is a very uneasy feeling when you do not know who you can trust and who you can't. These media outlets are constantly trying to shape your views and opinions about issues. Our opinions are trying to be formed for us instead of using the facts to create our own opinions. In terms of Green's model, I feel that these issues are critical because through technology these younger generations are asking critical questions and creating different perspectives.
"Perhaps
one of the most obvious factors contributing to the relatively passive,
disengaged stance of many young people toward government and formal elements of
politics is the withering away of civic education in schools." (Bennett, 2008, pp. 7) Today, in schools, students do not begin to learn about social studies or science until the get into fourth grade. Their teachers may touch on it during an ELA lesson but they never solely focus on these subjects. We have over a two hour block for ELA, an hour an a half for Math and twenty minutes for Social Studies and Science on a daily basis. Even when the students do start to learn about history and their government it is only for about twenty minutes. How can we expect our younger generations to feel connected to our government when we hardly teach them about it? This is an issue that has always deeply bothered me because I feel that the knowledge provided in science and social studies is crucial to these students. Our schools are so consumed with ELA and Math that we have pushed the other subjects aside. The effects are now starting to be seen as many young people either do not care about what is happening in their government or they do not know enough about it to be active participants.
Bennett, W. Lance. “Changing Citizenship in the Digital Age." Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth. Edited
by W. Lance Bennett. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. Cambridge, MA: The MIT
Press, 2008.
