NationStates Jolt Archive

I've been saddened recently by events at my university whereby it has emerged that the majority of the student body are extremely apathetic.

Most students no longer seem to care about the world in which we live: be it War abroad or rising tuition fees at home.

So here is my question, have overtly pragmatic governments/political parties and the emerging apathy of the children of the generation of the 60s, made it impossible for true social change and social justice to emerge in this world?

What makes you say governments are overly pragmatic? IMO, they're nowhere near pragmatic enough.

zomg teh cyber sheeps

Which university? The biggest protest ever seen in Britain happened against the Iraq war and it looked like alot of those protestors were students.

as a uni student all i can say about this is Who cares :p

I'm only 16, and at my first year of college. Most of the students there actually do give a crap about the rest of the world, and can often be found debating about terrorism, the Iraq war, who they would vote for etc.

Me myself; the state of the world and the fact that nobody seems to notice what's going on and that history tends to repeat itself has led to me 'burying my head in the sand' and pretending I know nothing about it. Beats getting worked up.

First, I wouldn't say that most governments are pragmatic, especially not overly so. I'm also not so sure about college students being apathetic. I've seen a great deal of activisim and interest in the events of the world on my campus, although that could just be me. In fact, some sociologists have predicted that (at least in the United States) today's college students (that generation) will be extremely active in politics and social reform, partially in response to the apparent apathy of the previous generation (Generation X, I believe it was?).

Students at my uni are apathetic as. They're so apathetic that when the uni screws them by changing their programes half way through a degree and says "look the workload is identical, it's 40 hours per week minimum and it was 30 before", the students all go "so where do we line up to pay our fees again?"...:headbang:

So I reckon they're fairly apathetic, that or the uni is doing a shit-show job and the students are just a wee bit sucky in the maths department....:confused:

Which university? The biggest protest ever seen in Britain happened against the Iraq war and it looked like alot of those protestors were students.
And all the protest demonstrated was that the government doesn't care what you think.

And then they were voted back into power anyway.

And all the protest demonstrated was that the government doesn't care what you think.


This is one of the reasons why many are apathetic because we are being continually told that we can't do anything, we can't change anything, our opinions don't matter so theres no point in political activism.

This is one of the reasons why many are apathetic because we are being continually told that we can't do anything, we can't change anything, our opinions don't matter so theres no point in political activism.
Anything short of violence is pretty much pointless.

Petrol protests in 2000? They worked well.
Protests against fox-hunting? Yep, that showed the Government who was boss.
Protests against the Iraq war, some of the (if not the) biggest in Britain's history? Thank goodness they kept us out of that mess.
All of the dissatisfaction and protest against ID cards, including two of the major parties and the House of Lords? Better renew your passport before 2008...

So the only recent large-scale protest I can remember that had any kind of positive outcome was the Firefighters' strike a few years ago, and your average student protest doesn't have the ability to lock up most of the country's modern fire-and-rescue equipment, so it's hardly a fair comparison.

Not that it's anyone's fault but our own; we* have voted this government in three consecutive times, each with a huge majority, despite their disdain for us. Good job, eh?

*Well, I didn't. I've voted against them in both elections I've been old enough to vote in.

What makes you say governments are overly pragmatic? IMO, they're nowhere near pragmatic enough.

zomg teh cyber sheeps


I believe that a lack of governmental ideology in this world (especially in Britain) is a direct factor in apathy, at both student and non-student level.

Pragmatism within New Labour, the Tories and Lib Dem, for example, means that there is very little to choose between the parties. They don't have an ideology behind their policies and, as such, their policies are governed by populist ideals. Look at the climate change debate: the public have developed an interest in it and therefore the parties have developed an interest in it.

The saddest part of this for me is what has happened to the Labour party. Traditionally they have been ideologically governed and, therefore they did not have this approach that we see now whereby they approach each issue as an opportunity to gain further popularity within the country.

Why do you think so many people in Britain and America are so sure that they can't change anything and so disenfranchise themeselves by failing to participate in the political process?

And I go to Sussex university where we have many politicised students but fail to achieve barely 5% of students at our annual general meeting...

That's not actually the case, I think. Apathy is the wrong word. People do care about the war and top-up fees, indeed, it is likely that university students have stronger convictions on both than any other 'group' in the United Kingdom. If people were apathetic, then things like Live 8, the Anti-War demonstration, the pro-fox hunting demonstration simply wouldn't happen. People do care - otherwise we'd all be sitting here playing Diablo II or nipping out for a fag.

Therefore, I'd say that we are seeing an increase, not a decrease, in extra-governmental politics, helped by the advent of mass-communication.

On the other hand, electoral turnout is decreasing, and more and more people are becoming bitter and cynical about politicians and government from Westminster. It happened to the Left when Labour turned to centrist-Thatcherite policy, and now it is happening to the Conservatives under David Cameron. Party membership has gone the way of Trade Union membership.

In other words, more and more people, possibly without even knowing it, are feeling alienated from government, especially since the powerful governments of Thatcher and Blair. People simply don't feel that they have an effect on Government. After all, more people voted against rather than for Labour, yet they maintain a majority government. For most people, I think, government simply sucks. When the Daily Mail talks about the "Governing Elite", they aren't far wrong.