Although one can understand the difficulties with teaching politics within schools in an unbiased manner, this does not excuse the lack of political education from the curriculum.
In a recent lesson, I found myself surprised that many of my fellow A-Level students could not understand simple political terminology, such as Left and Right Wing, and perhaps name a party associated with each. It took me less than a minute to conclude that it was not simply an ignorance to political happenings that had led students to this lack of knowledge, but rather the lack of provision of simple politics lessons within school. I believe that having an understanding of basic politics and party stances is crucial at this stage in students lives; let us not forget that many of the formerly referenced students can vote in less than one year! I am entirely aware of the difficulty posed by suggesting the teaching of unbiased politics, yet I do not believe that this is a good enough excuse to completely abandon the idea. We are doing students an injustice by not educating them, or encouraging them to use their vote, and to research properly before placing a vote (ensuring their needs, along with others, are accounted for). Without this provision of access to politics, many votes will go to waste as families choose to avoid the topic of politics, or simply do not vote as they ‘do not care’, yet proceed to whinge as the existing, or new, government takes power.
