It's been around a month since supposedly the 'tightest election for decades' resulted in a landslide win for the Conservatives. With this being the first election I was eligible to vote in, I was actually rather excited for the occasion. I had never had any interest whatsoever in politics up until this year - something I had in common with the majority of people my age. Luckily for me, it captivated me enough to maintain this interest, but the same cannot be said for others, with some still taking no notice in it at all.
It is no surprise that the majority of people had no interest in the election. If you go up to any GCSE or A Level student and ask them about politics, the majority will grunt at you and tell you to shut up. That should not be the way the future of our country should be acting. We need our students to be engaged with politics. We are the future of this nation, so we need to be with engaged with improving the nation.
Our education system teaches us many things, and it is a testament to our country. But there needs to be a change. We need political education for our students. I, and many other people my age, never had any political education, and only learnt through what we can grasp through the news media and online - and that opens people up to a whole range of bias and false news.
It doesn't seem a problem until an election arises. We are constantly bombarded with news about the lack of young people voting in elections, but it's because they do not know what they are voting for. How can they expect us to vote when we do not know anything about politics? Why are they not willing to educate us, and give us more of a voice in the political system?
The political education doesn't have to be anything intense. There doesn't have to be exams about how to vote or which policies fit each party, but students need to be informed about these things. Students need to know how to vote and how the voting system works, who their local MP's are and how the whole system in general works. But that shall only be the start. There is an enormous disenchantment with young people and politicians, because they see them all as liars. 'What does a politician do for me?' they all ask.
And it's true. Young people in particular believe most things that happen at the top have no affect to us down at the bottom. Young people want someone to believe in; someone who they can look at and trust that they have their best interests at heart.
It is no surprise that the Green party had such a surge of support, because they reached out to these young people. The Green party gave them hope that there could be a system that represents everyone, not just those at the top of society. During the election, Twitter was full of teenagers with 'VOTE GREEN 2015' on their profile, because they finally identified with a party that represented them.
Brilliant things can happen when young people are given the opportunity to have a voice; just look what happened during the Scottish Referendum. If young people feel like they are being represented, the majority will make their voice heard.
If students are being educated to how the system works and how it affects them, governments are beginning to build a link to these young people - something they have been struggling to do for a while. We cannot have another election with a disenchanted electorate.