Which Young Americans Will Lead Us?
Posted by Tarek Rizk on July 12, 2007
http://www.gii-exchange.org/blog/2007/07/which_young_americans_will_lea.html

The GII had the opportunity to offer the Aspen Institute conference room in support of a unique event called "Campaign Idol." Put on by the fun-loving geniuses at Americans for Informed Democracy, Campaign Idol offers high school students a selection of tools drawn from our own Continuous Progress website and pits them in fierce competition to design the most excellent campaigns possible.

We'll update everyone on the winner of Campaign Idol soon, but I want for the moment to focus on this idea: High school students, using tools designed for the most part for seasoned advocacy veterans, creating thoughtful, winning advocacy campaigns on global issues.

Contrast this wonderful story with a less uplifting one, about a Harvard University study revealing that "28 percent of Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 said they pay almost no attention to news every day. Another 32 percent said they pay only casual attention to one news source a day."

I have to confess that as a person who has paid attention to news throughout his life, I have trouble understanding how people can live without feeling the need to understand the events going on around them. I don't really have an answer about how this narrow age group can produce both the vibrant potential thought leaders who participated in Campaign Idol and the 60% of folks who don't pay any attention to the world around them. But there it is.