If you are posting a long manuscript, you may consider whispering it. I'll get the ball rolling by posting the essay on why college students should vote. I turned it in on Wednesday, but I'd gladly welcome any criticism.
A number of social issues should drive college students to the polls. First, a decision must be made about how to deal with the tobacco industry. Smoking and second-hand smoke are addictive, damage the human body, and contribute to the deaths of 400,000 Americans annually. Should the heads of tobacco companies be responsible for selling a deadly product, or is it up to the consumer to make wise decisions? Secondly, it is debated whether affirmative action should be reinstated, in California. Affirmative action encourages colleges to use race as a means to help examine potential candidates for admission; hence some highly qualified minority students have a stigma placed on them that affirmative action is the only reason they were admitted. Advocates for Proposition 209, which outlaws using racial preference in admittance to Californian colleges, believe that affirmative action blocks the path to a color-blind society, encourages reverse discrimination, and ignores some of the economically underprivileged. For example, financially independent blacks may get preference over poor immigrants. During an interview with Newsweek, the director of legal affairs at the Center for Individual Rights, Curt Levey, reaffirms, “It just doesn’t make sense to give preference to the children of a wealthy black businessman, but not to the child of a Vietnamese boat person or an Arab-American who is suffering from discrimination” (Levey 31). Others believe that affirmative action should be reinstated to continue to undo past injustices until underrepresented minorities obtain spots in prestigious universities comparative to their percent of the population. Thirdly, an important political issue is if more of the state’s budget should go to the protection of the environment. Students would benefit from the proliferation of forests that offer inexpensive recreation, but loggers and real estate developers could use the land for profitable endeavors. Fourthly, the air quality of California has deteriorated and become a big issue. Some people argue that if the factories are forced to follow more stringent standards, their productivity will fall. On the other hand, new laws, which would improve the quality of the air that society breathes, would help preserve public health. At present it can be hard to make factories conform to the current laws. Two writers for Time magazine, Andrew Goldstein and Matthew Cooper, agree by reiterating that, “Enforcing existing clean-air law has become a legal nightmare” (Cooper and Goldstein 30).
In addition to social issues, some strong economic dilemmas have special meaning to college students. First, the cost of commodities that are essential to a modern life style has risen. For example, students living on their own have to pay more for electricity due to severe shortages. The government is debating whether they should pool resources to make additional power plants, or should they occasionally inconvenience people with rolling blackouts when the dearth of electricity is too great to give regular service. Furthermore, a sharp rise in the cost of gasoline has made driving an automobile quite expensive for students who have to drive long distances to school. To alleviate the gasoline problem, the public transportation system could be expanded to allow more people to depend on it, or more oil could be obtained from foreign counties or domestic reserves. Secondly, the future of social security is important to the current generation of college students. Students could have to pay higher social security taxes to pay for the larger generations ahead of them. Then, paying social security for all the retired Baby Boomers may exhaust the social security funds and force it to be eliminated. Advocates of social security say that the help it gives retirees justifies funding. In contrast, others say that the young people today should not have to pay for a service they might not receive. Thirdly, the new war is relevant to college students. Although the war may protect the nation and create new jobs, the draft may be reinstated, if the war escalates significantly. College age students are drafted more quickly than any other age. For instance, the average age of an American soldier fighting in the Vietnam War was 19 years old.
Besides social and economic issues, the current fiscal crisis is of paramount political concern to college students in the Golden State. In order to help pay for the astronomic debt of the state, the funding given to state colleges has been slashed. Among some, it is believed that the state’s debt should be paid at almost all costs; conversely, others believe that the students will be hurt because the colleges were already receiving inadequate funding. First, the increased tuition costs may prohibit some people from attending college because the cost would be too high. Some people will have to work more hours on a job to earn more money, which could lower their performance in school. Then, the amount of financial aid schools can offer has decreased, which limits the amount of students who can receive help for paying for college. Finally, the number of classes has been reduced. Students have to be aggressive in signing up for classes. Therefore, even people who qualify both financially and academically for college may be blocked out. Chabot-Las Positas community college district assemblywomen, Ellen Corbet, summarizes the scenario well by saying that the students in California have not been helped by the 10% budget cuts to community colleges (Corbet interview).
California is faced with strong public, monetary, and budget crisis issues that should encourage the local college students to vote. First, the way college students can function on campus and in society is affected by meaningful social issues. In addition, some of the strongest economic dilemmas, in California, are of consequence to college students. Moreover, the current fiscal crisis puts the ability of some people to receive a quality college education in jeopardy. College students who are familiar with politics will develop into more well-rounded citizens. The American society as a whole must recognize that it is beneficial to vote since decisions about issues relevant to their lives are being made. Any vote made concerning an issue that affects one’s life does, in fact, count.