This is news?….It is in Israel

March 6, 2006 - 12:58 PM by Allison

Yael writes:

With elections only 6 weeks away, the whole country seems abuzz with political posturing, analyses, and discussion. I’m having political conversations with the waitress in my favourite cafe and over-hearing the political musing at the table next to me. So the other day when I came across a front-page article on Ynet about a mock vote held at a high school, I thought to myself, “ahhh how cute, it is obviously a very slow news day and someone thought they’d do a nice little fluff piece on enterprising high school students.” Then, today, in Ha’aretz yet another write-up about yet another mock vote at yet another high school. It began to sink in –this is news. I mean, it is in the news, right? And not only in the news but people seem to be taking it somewhat seriously as a pulse for the nation. Now, coming from the U.S. which is, granted, much bigger as a country and much more geographically different as far as the voting and so forth, this seems really strange. In the States, the idea that a high school student has any idea or anything worth listening to is pretty much uhh not accepted. People might smile indulgently and mentally pat the youngsters on the head but would take their opinion and mock vote with a grain of salt. A mock vote by high school students in the States would not make it to the back page of anything except perhaps the high school’s own paper.

But really, this is silly and condescending to think that way. After all, many high school students are 18 and can vote (although most don’t anyway –but maybe if people took them more seriously they would!). Not only that, but kids tend to quite often reflect the way their parents are going to vote: what they hear at home they repeat with their mock ballots. Unless, of course, they are rebelling and voting contrariwise. But that still captures what a good percent of their slightly older peers will also be doing at the real polls. So, go for it kids!

Cross-posted at Oleh Girl

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