How old were you when you developed political awareness? The working definition of ‘political awareness’ I’m assuming here is the ability to identify hot-button issues and know what the relevant parties’ stances are on these issues. Note that this is independent of having any personal opinion yourself on any issue or with identifying yourself with a particular party.
I think mine developed kind of late. As a senior in high school, I probably would not have been able to say with confidence what the (broadly speaking) conservative vs. liberal stances would have been on issues such as abortion, gay rights, gun control, health care, immigration, taxation or welfare. And sometimes, I still have to stop and think about it, because sometimes the views on either side don’t cluster in ways that seem intuitive to me.
A particular instance that comes to mind where this was relevant is when I was a first-year in college: I attended an Ayn Rand lecture and then, free copy of Atlas Shrugged in hand, went straight to another meeting whose organizer’s views, I now realize in hindsight, are probably in stark contrast to Rand’s. And yet in my naivete, I was excited to discuss where I had just come from. In hindsight, I’m kind of embarrassed about this. Not because I now think Rand’s views are ugly (though maybe they are), but just because I fear the organizer either thought I was ignorant of his views (which is true) or being deliberately inconsiderate (which is not true).
So, what about you? I’d be interested in hearing any similar anecdotes, memories, or abstract reflections on the development of your political awareness.
I’d say by third grade. I read the paper (well, the front page for sure) every morning with my Cream of Wheat. I knew I liked Democrats and didn’t really like Republicans. The Republicans seemed mean and the Democrats seemed to do stuff they way I would do it if I had a choice.
That’s fascinating, niblet_head. Can I ask if you think the political persuasion of your parents or family more generally played any role in this opinion formation, or was it just personal opinion formed by reading the newspaper?
My parents are Democrats, but I honestly don’t recall politics ever being discussed in my house. I remember watching the Watergate hearings as a child, too, but my mother never made any comment of opinion that I recall.
By the time I was in 6th grade, I was very anti-Reagan. Again, from the newspaper. What’s odd is that my hometown paper is a conservative paper…
Personally, around 12, because that was the year of the 2000 election. I developed my own beliefs the next year when I entered junior high, probably because that was during September 11th and I knew I didn’t like where we were heading with the finger pointing.
So, I think it depends on the current political climate. I’m sure that much younger children, maybe 8 or 9, became aware of politics and the differences in parties in 2008 because the election was such a huge deal. If you grew up during a series of lame duck presidents, I’d guess you’d become aware around 14/15 because that’s when a strong personality tends to emerge.
My political awareness didn’t start til my mid 20’s.
I mean, I always knew who the President was right down to SOTH and I knew what each persons job function was but I never took any active political interest until my mid 20’s.
(Are you kidding me? HS is late in life? Third graders reading the paper? Cats sleeping with dogs? What planet am I living on? )
I was 13. I started reading the editorial page in the paper then, and Watergate was getting REALLY big (Nixon resigned later that year). There was a lot about politics and government I didn’t understand still, but if you were to graph my awareness over the years the biggest jump by far, both percentagewise and absolutevaluewise, would have been that year.
For me it was around middle school. In sixth grade, we did some work with the upcoming presidential election. At that point I didn’t really “get” it. But by middle school I was reading editorials, forming my own opinions, etc.
Junior High. Although, when I was still in grade school, I made a campaign poster for Mondale and hung it on a telephone poll. All I really knew about the candidates was that Reagan’s “Star Wars” thing sounded like a shit idea that’d get us all killed.
I used to read the paper as well. Got my start with the comics but then I’d start reading the news sections just for something to do over my cereal.
I certainly was political in elementary school. We received three papers a day in my house: Washington Post, Washington Star, and the Potomac News. My parents are raving conservatives, and I was aware of Nixon, Vietnam, and 1970s era Israeli/Palestinian conflict in real time (I’m 43). I remember watching Nixon resign on TV and having political opinions (albeit not really well formed) at the time. I’ve always been liberal leaning and enjoyed political cartoons from an early age: Oliphant was my favorite, I think he was in the W. Star back then.
Earlier than I can pin a definite date on. As a child of about 5, I regarded Regan (who was President at the time) as a warmonger, largely due to influence from my mother.
For opinions that I can definitely state were my own, not just absorbed from Mom, during the first Gulf War (when I was 13), I came to the conclusion that the wave of popularity Bush was receiving from the war was likely to carry him into a second term, a prospect I was not particularly happy about. Of course, I turned out to be wrong about that one, but still, I think that speculating about the outcome of elections is enough to count as “political awareness”.
In kindergarten, our teacher left the room for a little while. Some other teacher came in without knocking, did not speak to us and began rummaging around for something, so I said, “Excuse me, this is OUR teacher’s room”. She said I had no business speaking to an adult the way that I had spoken to her.
I was of the opinion that she was dead WRONG, that the fact that I was a child was irrelevant, that there are rules for conduct and she was in violation of them. It would have been wrong for ME to have gone into a room that was not mine, and it was therefore wrong for HER to do so without permission.
You may not agree, but that’s politics, folks. Principles, causes, how you define situations, power, what is right and what is wrong and how the rules should apply to folks. Politics through and through.
Me? I was campaigning for Steveson in 1956 when I was four. Of course, I don’t remember that.
I do remember the 1960 campaign, where I was a big JFK fan (at age 8). We used to sing “Whistle while you work/Nixon is a jerk/Eisenhower has the power/to put him out of work.”
By 1964 (age 12), I was on top of the issues and candidates and could name my senators (Kenneth Keating – with Bobby Kennedy running against him – and Jacob Javits) and representative (Otis G. Pike).
Senior year of high school, late '87 and early '88. I was trying to figure things out at that time and for approximately two weeks was a self-proclaimed Republican. It was about that same time that I was seriously beginning to study Russian and a couple of kids teased me about being a Communist, so (smart-ass that I was) I told 'em as a matter of fact I was. Blew their minds, and one guy I knew handed me a copy of the Communist Manifesto, saying I should read it and see exactly how fucked up it all was.
Let’s see, that would have been at least…‘92, when I was nine. I was at least aware of the candidates’ views on abortion, which affected my view on them, and how I voted (in the Nickelodeon Kids Pick the President event, anyway).
Before that, we had a mock presidential election in kindergarten. I didn’t really have any opinion (or information) on the candidates in that one, but I voted Dukakis, mostly to be contrary (everyone else voted for Bush).
Age 9. At age 8, during the 1972 election campaign, I refused to vote in the third grade mock election because I didn’t know enough about the candidates to make an informed choice. Then I became obsessed with Watergate and turned into a lifelong political junkie. I wrote my fourth grade open topic paper on voting, and continued to focus my studies on voting and elections all the way through my senior paper in college, which was on voter apathy.
Nah, I think I’d already dropped being a Republican by that point. Honestly, it was twenty friggin’ years ago and I had more important things on my mind like graduating high school and trying to get laid. It’s a blur, otherwise.
I would say 5th grade. That was in 1988, and we had a mock presidential election in my elementary school. (I grew up in Northern California; Dukakis won handily.) My parents are very political and I always had a very vague idea of what was happening in the world, but I remember discussing the issues - in a kid-appropriate manner - in my 5th grade class and it was very eye-opening, mostly in the sense that I didn’t realize that there were people in the world that disagreed with my parents’ viewpoints.
By the time I was in 6th grade, I was an avid newspaper reader, and I started reading my family’s subscription to Newsweek cover to cover in 7th grade.
First year of high school, 1983. I went to high school with a relative of Geraldine Ferraro. I got more into politics in 1987 as I spent most of the summer watching the Iran-Contra hearings. I became even more interested in politics during my last years of college (1990-1991) up until the election of Bill Clinton.
After that, my interest has gone up and down. I still follow politics very closely.