Ahead of the Presidential Primary Election Day on Tuesday, March 5, I spoke with six South Pasadena High School seniors who will be voting for the first time this year after turning 18 years old.
When asked about their perception of the state of the nation, the young adults dove right in, seemingly well informed and passionate about causes they hold in high regard. Some of the issues the students were quick to discuss as being at the forefront of their concerns included economic policy that needs more room for social policy; reproductive rights; climate change; lack of trust in leadership; the country’s great divide with people not operating on the “same set of facts”; feeling of helplessness and that anger is out of control.
If those are your feelings too, welcome to their world.
These students are all young women who are enrolled in teacher Maryann Nielsen’s Advanced Placement government and politics class at South Pasadena High School.
Nielsen recently offered a self-selected group of students the opportunity to participate in an hourlong roundtable discussion on how they view the political landscape going into an election year.
Their thoughts and comments — provided during the discussion and written on note cards — reflect credit to Nielsen, who has been teaching the yearlong SPHS course for 19 years. It started with two small sections and now enrolls 125 students across four large classes.
Students Hanna Diop, Elizabeth Petty, Charlotte Dekle, Camille Whetsel, Maya Young and Parya Haghparast participated in the session.
Reproductive rights, climate change, gender and race were topics most mentioned by the students over the course of the hour. The issue of guns was mentioned as a top problem by one student, though Nielsen said the issue of guns is a topic that comes up frequently during class.
Here are edited excerpts of the Q&A (shortened for clarity):
Q: What is the state of the nation?
Young: I think the state of the nation needs help because there is so much of a divide and also, a lot of the younger generation is not participating in voting. … Lack of trust in politicians. Government is not really doing much to solve current issues effectively.
Diop: Currently, the government does not relate to the problems of my generation. Many parties are out of touch with younger voters and have a pattern of [supporting] politicians who want to hold on to power instead of giving way for younger people to have a vote. I feel a way to fix this is for politicians to begin championing more Gen Z supported policies such as climate change, student loans, etc.
Dekle: I don’t think the older generation understands how everything is more expensive and getting a job and buying a house is far more difficult. … Government doesn’t relate to the problems of our generation because they are not from our generation. And since we haven’t really mobilized they don’t care. We need to mobilize and elect younger people.
Q: What would you say are some of your biggest concerns about what is going on in the country?
Whetsel: I think the government doesn’t fully represent the issues that are most relevant to people of my generation (climate and economy). I do not think the older generation understands how anxiety-inducing climate change is to us.
Haghparast: [The country] needs a lot of help. I don’t think the government relates to the problems of our generation, specifically the divide among people, in the sense they are not doing enough to help heal it. I don’t think the older generation understands the feeling of low political efficacy.
Petty: Environmental issues; reproductive rights; racism and health. Also, technology is advancing faster than legislation can catch up to it.
Dekle: Some of my biggest issues are climate change and reproductive rights, along with advances in technology.
Diop: Climate change, health care policies, affordable care, financial literacy.
Dekle: There is a very obvious systemic racism and misogyny within our society. The gender gap particularly infuriates me because even though women are [more than] 50 percent of the population, there aren’t many laws to protect them.
Petty: There aren’t many women in these prominent positions across the board. We’ve never had a woman president. Yet out of everyone I talk to, the people who are interested in politics are mostly women.
Haghparast: I think there is a large gender and racial gap in both national and state government considering we currently have had zero female presidents and our first Black president was years ago. I would say we are improving, but it’s not enough.
Young: I think our government is becoming a little more diverse but I feel there is still a gender gap.
Diop: I think there is a gender and racial gap in politics. However, as the younger generation begins to take its place in politics, those gaps will lessen.
Young: The overturning of Roe v. Wade made me trust the government even less. Now I feel as a younger woman that I don’t have as much of a say and that my freedom is impacted. I also feel that (along) with a lot of my friends, it made us lose trust in our politics. I think it is harder to trust our [recent] presidents with how they are handling issues as a country.
Q: How often do you think or talk about this country, state and community, and where do you get your news?
(One student looked around the room, smiled and said, “We talk about it among ourselves for hours.” Another said she talks about the news while driving with her dad in the car. Diop mentioned TikTok, and “how addictive it is.” She said she reads the Washington Post site on TikTok.)
Whetsel: I get my news from reading, but I am definitely an anomaly. Most get it from social media.
Petty: I get my information from a mix of conservative and liberal news sites and then compare and contrast. For example, CNN or Fox.
Haghparast: I try to inform my friends who don’t know what is happening around them in the world. I try to inform them in the most unbiased way possible, but it is definitely hard not to judge them.
Q: How did the COVID pandemic affect you earlier in your high school careers?
Dekle: COVID brought me closer to family and friends. It was kind of magical how we all came together during COVID. Seeing my family 24-7 kind of bonded us.
Petty: I felt very alone during the pandemic. I had gotten socialization through extracurriculars like Scouts BSA and sports. So, I was depressed and became very isolated.
Haghparast: It affected me educationally and emotionally, and I still feel alone.
Whetsel: COVID affected me both emotionally and educationally, but I also got closer to my family. The year after COVID and the transition to back in person (2021-22, my sophomore year) was very hard.
Q: What can you as high school students do to make this country and your community a better place? How many of you volunteer or do other kinds of community service?
Young: High schoolers can volunteer in the community and participate in protests. I work to make more voices heard. We can work to be more politically informed.
Dekle: I wish protests worked more. I feel like they worked at one point, but some issues are too entrenched for any real change to be done. To make my country a better place, I can donate to causes I believe in. I can speak at school boards and I can vote.
Whetsel: I think protests can be helpful to show that people care about an issue, but may be less helpful for policy change.
Diop: I think the important thing that I can do is make sure I am politically informed and remain open-minded. I don’t believe true change can be made by speaking to people who already agree with you. The ability to reach people across the aisle, I believe, is what truly makes a difference.
Petty: To create a better world, you must create better people. Be nice. Kindness spreads. Have civil debates with your peers and help them understand that just because someone has a different opinion, it doesn’t mean they are against you.
First published in the March 1 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
