Obama and McCain: Essays on Civic Engagement in Teaching Tolerance Magazine

On the brink of the presidential election, candidates John McCain and Barack Obama call America's youth to action and appeal for more community service in exclusive essays written for the Fall 2008 issue of Teaching Tolerance magazine. The magazine, which was released today, is being distributed free of charge to more than 400,000 educators nationwide.

Barack Obama writes in, "Choices for a Rising Generation:"

So at this historic moment, we must ask our rising generation to serve their country as Americans always have — by working on a political campaign or joining the military, by doing community service or relief work abroad. Because that's how real change has always come — from ordinary people coming together to do extraordinary things; from all those, young and old, black, white, and brown, who were willing to do what was risky and what was hard and put their shoulders to the wheel of history, and turn it towards opportunity and equality and justice for all."

John McCain writes in "A More Peaceful and Prosperous World:"

Young people understand the power that the political process wields as a force for change, and they are actively engaged in harnessing that power to bring about change for their families, their communities and their world. I see, in the efforts and enthusiasm of America's youth, that our nation's best days are ahead of us. I hear the message of young people loud and clear, and as President, I will honor the obligation of today's leaders to leave the next generation a more peaceful and prosperous world than the one we have today.

What strikes me about these two essays is the assumption that the candidates appear to know and understand the wide range of issues that young people are concerned about. The issues that are important to young people vary drastically, along party lines, by age (the concerns of people in high school are not the same as recent graduates etc.), and along personal ambitions. Thus, it is not fair to group young people together and assume that they have the same needs.

Second, there is a difference between listening to young people's voices and actually implementing their ideas. The former is represented in McCain's closing statement more so than in Obama's. McCain "hears" the voices of young people (the question is if this listening is selective) but will he incorporate policy ideas formulated by young people? Obama appears to make more of an appeal to young people in his closing statement, asking them to participate (this could come off as slightly condescending).

Lastly, neither candidates make reference to the young people who do not and cannot participate in "conventional" ways such as politically or doing community service. I am referring to the young people who must work to support their families, those who come from broken homes and are preoccupied with making ends meet in their own lives. They too participate, just not in the traditional sense of the phrase civic engagement. The candidates should not look down on these young people and discredit their participation, but acknowledge their resilience and support their needs as well.