Whats the best way to teach someone about politics...?

Question

without boring them to death?

I know we should all be interested in the people who are running our country, but really, it'd be hard to find something more boring.

Let's say, I'm trying to get a youngin' interested in politics. What's the best course of action?

Answer 1

Tell them the grasshopper and the ant story.

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, "It's Not Easy Being Green"

Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.

John Kerry and John Edwards exclaim in an interview with Dan Rather that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." Rather displays documents, verified by "experts", proving this.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

Hillary Clinton gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.

The ant loses the case.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow.

The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

Moral of the Story:

Vote

Answer 2

Depends on the age, etc.
We talk about issues, etc a lot in our home. We discuss local things up for vote. Our son is 14, so he pays attention and he has interest. Not all kids will be the same and the approach has to be different in each, but stressing the importance of being involved in the process is the more important thing when they are younger - and seeing the example.
Drives me nuts when people complain, complain, but then never vote.
He is also taking American History this year which he is finding very interesting. When we talk about what is going on in class it's very easy to apply that to modern day events and politics.

Answer 3

You consider life and death, freedom and enslavement, suffering, and the like boring?

There's the problem right there. Since you have no interest in the well-being of humans or other living things, there's no way you can teach about politics.

What you first need to do is understand what it's all about. Then you can engage young people by tying politics the all the things they naturally care about.

Answer 4

Well, I have no qualifications since I'm not a parent, but here's my opinion...
Start out on a small, personal scale by using examples of the way they deal with disagreements and compromise with friends. I think this would help make politics and political principles 'real' to them. Also, it would help establish the basic premises that (1) politics are pervasive and (2) the basics of politics are neither 'good' nor 'evil'. Then help them build on that understanding with examples of organized politics that relate to their school, social groups, etc. Basically, start at the individual level and work upwards in levels and complexity.

Answer 5

Make it fun. Or you can also play "Pin the Mustache on the Junior Senator from New York Game". It's kind of like pin the tail on the donkey, but instead of a tail it's a short squared off-mustache. It should be in Wal-Mart by Christmas.

Answer 6

let them be innocent as long as they can! There will come a time when they are older they will realize they have no choice but to be involved all on their own... just instill the basic principles of the importance of voting and the rest will come when it needs to.

Answer 7

Ask questions about issues that are up for debate, such as health care, the war in Iraq, etc. That's the way to start.

Answer 8

Tell them to watch how the other kids act.

There's no difference between Washington and high school.

Who's gonna be President/prom queen?
Who's sleeping with who?
Who's organizing a protest, who's starting a fight, who's petitioning to legalize pot?

Answer 9

Give the child a really good toy, and then in front of him, break it to pieces.

Answer 10

turn on the radio every weekday and have them listen to Rush limbaugh. Then they will be informed and make good choices.