With the primary elections in full swing, politics are a major center of debate across the country. However, this isn’t true for some students at Jonathan Alder. Even though the level of knowledge and engagement possessed by students widely ranges and varies, some aren’t afraid to make their thoughts known.

Trump’s patriotism is a favorable quality in the eyes of Junior Matt Schertzer, who states, “I believe [Trump’s] personality is very controversial, but I feel like his policy making and the way he’s governing our country is pretty solid.” 

While Schertzer is confident in his beliefs, some students see value on both sides of the aisle. Junior Gavin Heimlich says, “[Trump] has his flaws, but he has his benefits too. I do like Bernie however; he’s pretty cool.” Sophomore Will Heisler agrees: “Their policies both line-up with most of my views.” 

For some, politics can seem quite intricate, complex, and sometimes insignificant. In 2008, the federal election saw the lowest voter turnout in the history of our country at 58.8 percent. (techmag.com) The major decline is mostly in part of the lack of civic engagement and the minimal education of civil rights, duties, and responsibilities in today’s schooling system. 

The lack of interest in the discussion of political topics is evident at Jonathan Alder. Schertzer says, “I’m not at all interested in politics, so I don’t keep up with them all that much.” This attitude seems to be on par with the national trends. Heimlich and Heisler also said that they weren’t interested in keeping up with politics. 

When asked about this trend of incuriousment, Junior Riley Woods stated, “ today’s teenagers are the future leaders of tomorrow, so without an obvious sort of interest in political discussion, the status of our country is going to plummet miserably.”