90 percent of children today attend public school (publicschoolreveiw.com). The rate of those who attend public school compared to private is increasing dramatically, and public schools in New Jersey cities such as Elizabeth and Princeton continue to grow academically and make parents question why they should consider private schooling for their children when a public education is just as good, if not starting to become better.

A main difference in the curriculum of public schools compared to private is the general programs and achievement criteria in public school that is enforced by the state. These programs are designed for all students, and include mathematics, english, and history, amongst other topics.

With limited class time and multiple classes mixed together to create the seven to three school day, teacher’s begin to face the same problem. And it’s not one that will be going away any time soon.

How do you cover every school topic adequately with limited class time? How do you make up for loss information?

18- to 24-year-olds have consistently dealt with issues in understanding politics. Now-a-days, it’s common behavior for young adults to not be interested in politics, and to preach that their vote doesn’t matter. But they fail to understand the process.

Back in 2011, high school teacher Jeff Frazer was interviewed by CNN about the struggles he’s faced trying to teach social studies to high school-aged students.

“I think they learn information by itself, in isolation,” Frazer said of his current students. “but putting the big picture together is not happening.”

Now, in 2016, social studies teachers are still facing the same problem.

According to the US Census Bureau’s voting data, on average, less than half eligible young voters will make it to the polls for a national presidential election.

But where exactly does this problem stem from?

The state of New Jersey has a set of standards for social studies. These standards outline exactly what is to be taught in classrooms for every grade.

For grades nine through 12, this blurb pops up:

 

New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Social Studies (http://www.state.nj.us/education/cccs/2014/ss/standards.pdf)

U.S. History and Global Studies are the first topics mentioned, and the only. The state encourages teachers to motivate their students to consider all historical viewpoints in order to become an informed individual in society and be able to recognize the importance of significant documents that gave us our basic human rights. According to the state, by learning world history, you will learn your basic human rights, and presumably how to express them.

According to the New Jersey standards, learning your “human rights” only include this:

New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Social Studies (http://www.state.nj.us/education/cccs/2014/ss/standards.pdf)

But that should include voting and basic knowledge of the political system, right?

“I took a couple AP (advanced proficient) history courses in high school, so the only reason I know about how the government operates is because I took an advanced U.S. Government course,” says Rachel O’Connor, a junior studying international studies at The College of New Jersey. “It’s not regularly offered, and if you don’t have good enough grades from the regular history courses, then you can’t place into it.”

Regular social studies courses are required to discuss challenges for the modern world and contemporary issues, as outlined in the state standards. The issue comes from this. Without clear instruction about what to teach (besides basic world history), teachers and students become lost.

However, Quentin Kidd, the head of the political science department at Christopher Newport University, contributes the issue to factors outside of the classroom.

“The bottom line is that people generally agree that the extent to which young adults feel they have a stake in the establishment is less than the older voter,”He says.

Issues that are discussed in national elections, such as foreign policy and social security, “aren’t things college students (young adults) generally worry about,” Kidd says how young people may not see candidates prioritizing issues that they are invested in, such as college debt and climate change, and therefore turn away from the whole situation.

So, what do we do?

“We treat this course [social studies] like a public annoyance,” Says Stephen Young, founder of Ontario’s Civics Education Network. “Schools routinely put unqualified teachers into the class; many teachers have zero interest in teaching this and do a poor job.”

Open class discussions about issues that students care about are the best way to get students to speak up. All students are likely aware of local, civic issues. To discuss those issues will help paint the big picture, the one that students are having such a hard time envisioning.

“It’s about raising questions and engaging [the students] to see what the answer might be.” says Alan M. Sears, a social studies and educational research professor at Rutgers University New Brunswick.

Students need the motivation of knowing their vote counts, and the confidence of knowing how their government works. They need to be aware of conflicting thoughts, and take the experience of open discussions and debates in classrooms and take those skills and apply them to the real world. The goal isn’t creating a politician, but a well-rounded student, says Journalist Martha Beach, from Teach Magazine.

“If we want kids to vote, to be engaged, we need to address them directly, hear their concerns, give them a reason to be engaged.” Says Young. “This means honest, direct, adult-like conversations, not high speed ‘kid’ conversations.”