Tomorrow is our primary here in Maryland, and other than the usual presidential candidate and delegates to pick out, it seems we are also to vote on Board of Education At Large.
I could look up information on these people, see what they promise to do. And I will. Just one problem. Really, I’m in no position to decide on elected officials who’d be in charge of schools. I’m no longer a student, and neither is any member of my family. So how am I affected?
Trouble is? The people affected the most, the students themselves of course, have no say in the matter. They’re too young to vote. So we’ve got older people who may have no connections to the school system whatsoever, having no real idea about what goes on, picking how who runs things there, while the students, the ones who have to live with whatever happens, the ones who know way better than any of us, are forbidden from having any say.
Something is seriously wrong here!
Lower the voting age, perhaps? Or is that too easy of an answer? *grin*
the minimum voting age in school board elections should be wholly abolished, in these elections I think it would be a good thing for even 5 year olds to vote, you could also make the case that there should be a maximum voting age in school board elections, (nothing against old people, but they have no stake in the impact of those bodies, so they should only vote if LITERALLY EVERYONE is allowed to) it is a complete absurdity that the people disproportionately effected by school boards are all denied the ability to choose the members of those boards.
Maybe a good solution would be to only allow students and school/district staff to vote in school board elections. They are the only people affected by the outcome of such elections, so they should be the only ones in control of the outcome. (This would be in addition, of course, to significantly lowering the voting age, since other elections also impact youth.)