The government we have today is not the government I grew up with.
Of course, nothing stays the same forever – but there’s a big difference between what my Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics (AP Gov) class taught me to expect and what’s been transpiring in the last month.
In high school, Kristina Eggenberger, alumna ‘93, was my AP U.S. Gov teacher. She was and is an excellent teacher, in personality as well as practice. Organized, succinct and open to any conversation, she not only gave me the tools to be an informed voter but inspired me to apply to Albion College.
If it meant I could be as intelligent, balanced and passionate about my interests as she was, I wanted to follow in her footsteps. So, taking one more look at the purple and gold “A” flag on her classroom wall, I submitted my application.
Today, I stare at the same computer I applied on, sighing as I read the latest news. From unprecedented federal layoffs to bizarre international relations to disastrous climate decisions, tensions and temperatures are rising.
Sometimes as I browse the news, the articles suggested to me have such revealing, exhausting headlines that I take a screenshot of my page instead of reading – saving it as “I can’t believe this is happening.jpg.”
Nothing is working how it is supposed to.
According to my education, representatives are meant to vote on policies, not sit back motionless as another spit-slick executive order rolls out of the widening maw of the Oval Office.
One of the court cases required for the AP U.S. Gov exam, Roe v. Wade, was overturned soon after I took the AP test.
As things progress – or perhaps more accurately, regress – I find myself thinking back to Mrs. Eggenberger’s classroom.
Teaching, Learning ‘Active Citizenship’
There are only a few AP classes available at Alma Senior High School: Calculus, U.S. Comparative Gov, Literature and Composition and U.S. Government and Politics. Eggenberger has taught both government classes for over 20 years, and said AP U.S. Gov, “more than any other class” that she teaches, “prepares students for active citizenship.”
“We think critically about our systems, our rules and whether those are the most effective ways for operating a government,” Eggenberger said.
To Eggenberger, AP U.S. Gov is important not only for students to become “knowledgeable voters,” but also for developing “the skill set to maybe run for office themselves someday.”
During the class, I wrote several times about what I thought the value of the class was and often arrived at a similar conclusion – becoming an informed voter.
In 2022 when I voted for the first time, I saw the word “referendum” on the ticket and was grateful to Mrs. Eggenberger for knowing what it meant.
After I graduated from high school, I actively participated in phone banking, calling and emailing my local and federal representatives about resolutions.
For months, I saw no results even though I was using the channels I had been taught to use. I found myself losing hope.
Eggenberger said she recently spoke with a student who asked her: “How do you stay so hopeful about our government?”
“Ultimately what I said to her was my hope is in your generation,” Eggenberger said. “My hope is in your class taking AP government, that understands the issues well enough that you’ll fight for what’s right, you’ll use your voice and use your vote; you’ll use your democratic power to make this country what it was designed to be.”
What Do We Do Now?
I often find myself frustrated when I hear previous generations finding peace in our peril. It isn’t easy growing up knowing we have to somehow save the world. I just want to live a life, not find a way to reinstate democracy for our experimental country. Shouldn’t that be someone else’s job?
I keep asking myself: Is this all as unprecedented as it feels? Will there ever be a return to normalcy?
During the presidential campaigns last year, I felt something new. This stupid, beautiful, doomed country wasn’t just a place I lived in anymore, it was mine. Voting in a presidential election, I was suddenly struck by the responsibility of being a voting adult – it was always going to end up being my job, our job, all along.
It certainly isn’t fair – we didn’t vote for the people who built it, and we didn’t ask to be born.
But, to wallow in that despair is to doom those after us, and they’re already screwed enough, as far as I’m concerned.
They deserve better. And yeah, I can be honest enough with myself to confess that I too hope the next generation will make things better when they get around to having institutional power.
According to Eggenberger, we have to be more than voters.
“You’ve got to participate on a regular basis,” Eggenberger said. “Make sure your elected officials know that you’re watching, that you’re paying attention.”
As we stare down the possibility of being the last generation with the privilege of such an education, I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to learn from someone so open-minded and well-educated.
It’s tempting to crawl into bed and never leave again and hide beneath the covers of my privilege. But, I think I can bear getting out of bed every morning if it means having something worth waking up for.
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