Dear Non-voting student:
I know you. You sat in my classrooms for 25 years and inspired me to teach. Mostly you made my day, but not on Election Day. On that day, you sat on the sidelines while adult citizens did your duty. I say “adult citizens,” because you did not consider yourselves adults on that day of the year. You were bystanders to history.
I know we did not teach you to be bystanders, but we did give you the impression you were in a waiting room, not ready to participate until we made you wise. We created a womb for you to gestate until you emerged, fully aware and prepared. So you gestated rather than participated.
Politicians understood this better than we did. They counted on your non-participation. They ignored your issues, such as Pell grants or full-funded tuition. They made it harder for you to vote with fewer polling places with shorter hours. They developed schemes to irrelevantly test you, as they already do in K-12 schools. They knew you would not stand up and vote if they threatened your rights or financial security.
I regret that I did not push you out of the university womb on the days leading up to Elections, and today I feel the pangs more, because so much is at stake, not only the scholarship mechanisms and free tuition, but the dignity and citizenship of students born to immigrants, the upward mobility of students born to the lower middle class, and the basic right to healthcare, presently guaranteed only to privileged classes.
You may think of yourself as privileged already because many of you are living the good life in a university that protects your rights and quietly drains your bank account while you learn. This gestation will end sooner than you can imagine. You will be dealing with healthcare and unemployment before you know it.
So I am challenging you to think like a fully-developed adult citizen and register to vote. And then to vote on November 6. If you are not sure how to get registered, check out the Voting Rights page on bestcolleges.com. Don’t let politicians take you for granted. Show your power.