By Reina Werth, News Editor
At Indian Trail High School and Academy, some students feel that their political voices are not heard or respected.
The 2016 presidential election was heated and tense to say the least. Both candidates were exceptionally good at evoking strong responses from both their supporters and those who opposed them.
However, people under the age of 18, who have a large stake in the political future, had little to no voice in who would lead the country.
“Because of our age and how other individuals, especially older individuals, believe that we haven’t experienced life enough to have a political voice, we kind of are shifted towards not having a political voice,” said Molinna Bui, Indian Trail General Studies senior and National Honor Society president.
Students do have political views and ideas, which can be seen by young protesters walking out of class the day after President Trump’s election.
“Yes, he [Donald Trump] is the president, and I respect his authoritative figure, but I don’t feel like he represents me and my people,” said Lizzie Gowin, an Indian Trail General Studies senior.
In addition, clubs like the Gay Straight Alliance and Women’s Rights and Empowerment often discuss and debate political issues.
Many students feel strongly that issues they care about, such as human rights, immigration reform, women’s rights, racism, education, the Affordable Healthcare Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, are not being addressed in ways that they agree with.
Despite many people feeling that high schoolers are not able to make informed and reasonable political issues, Katie Phillips, an English teacher at Indian Trail feels otherwise.
“I think the biggest part of high school is learning how to problem solve and analyze, no matter what class you’re in,” said Phillips.
“It should be about how to think and the way to come about a decision, and those are the skills we should be teaching, so high school students should be able to take in information and make an educated choice or decision about something,” she said.