The rising levels of voter participation among the nation's youth continue to be challenged by the current voter registration system, perpetuating the difficulty of fostering lifelong voters. Some states are proposing to take this challenge into their own hands by making voter registration accessible to citizens as young as 16. Already widely accessible at schools and departments of motor vehicles, the move would allow future voters in some states to automatically be enrolled on the voter rolls on their 18th birthdays, a change that advocates say could "close the registry gap between young voters and the rest of the population."
Ashu Kapoor, a senior blogger from a Queens small school:
For too long, students have been left out of the decisions made about our education. This blog will begin the task of giving students a real voice in our schools. Students are most affected by the successes and failures of our schools and deserve some say in the policies made about them
If you get the chance please check us out at http://nycstudents.blogspot.com (and blogroll us if you feel like it!) We're really excited to contribute a student voice to the issues that so affect us and look forward to working with the rest of the education blogosphere to continue these conversations and improve New York City's schools.
In the next 6 days I have a lot on my plate. If all goes as scheduled I will post a diary on an about to be published book which the author, a former writer for the Washington Post, asked that I read and review. I have been invited to attend as an observer a hearing on NCLB sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus. I will attend political events to which I have been invited with Russ Feingold and Dan Maffei. I may at his request be part of a small group to have dinner with a U S Senator to talk about education. As one who wishes to influence educational policy several of these occasions seem to validate my efforts. As a politically active person all give me an opportunity to connect and thereby to have the possibility to make a difference. Several will clearly provide material about which I could blog and perhaps get some visibility for my efforts. Five events of interest, perhaps of some import. But none of these are the reason for my title.
On Thursday I will spend one-two hours with a young lady named Sara, who was my student when she was a freshman in high school in 1999-2000.
STATE BLOGS
