Is there a connection between the politic lessons in school and the way young voters participate in elections in Germany?

In the 2008 Bundestag elections in Germany the participation was very low in general. But especially young voters between 18 and 25 weren’t active in these elections. The question I want to discuss now is whether the politic lessons have an influence on the low participation or not.

http://www.homopoliticus.de/2010/02/23/wahlstatistik-zur-bundestagswahl-2009/

As we found out the guidelines of NRW (that are very similar to other Bundesländer) say that the general aim of the lessons is to make an active citizen out of every pupil. But when we take a closer look on the contents of the lessons we have to recognize that the political system and the elections are only a small part of the whole. But can we really criticize the ministers for this? From my point of view the politic lessons contain too much and have too much aims, therefore there isn’t enough time to talk about the important topic intensively.

As Katharina already explained to us in her post about the own experiences in school, there are topics missing that would be really helpful to become active and critical voters (e.g. the tasks of Bundesrat, Bundestag and Bundesgerichtshof).

But in fact we have to admit that although we miss some topics in politic lessons there are many other factors that keep the young voters away from the ballots. We have to take in consideration that the older people are an idol for the young ones and as I’ve already mentioned the participation was very low in general and for all other ages. Often parents don’t go voting and then their children don’t do either. In addition to that politicians rarely visit schools to talk about their work and their topics.

Here I’ve got a good example of a school that offers a politic course after school, in which the pupils that are interested can discuss about whatever they like that has to do with politics!

http://ass.medienzentrum-kassel.de/ags-projekte/arbeitsgemeinschaften/politikwerkstatt

All in all I would conclude that the politic lessons in school may not be perfect, but it is not their task alone to prepare pupils for the elections. It is possible to offer an extra course or lectures from politicians after school to make pupils interested. Parents shall be a better idol for their children and start going to elections!

It is very important to go voting!!!!