Proud of our dcs for voting

[Dunlurking]

Did you get the vibes that something would happen with the student votes? I'm so proud that our dcs engaged, went and voted, and can see direct results. Ds told me about his facebook feed going mad with his Labour friends posting things. It's only now I realise the significance of that action. Whatever we voted ourselves, we surely must be pleased that this generation has woken up to the importance of engaging in democracy. Ds was frustrated as his half of the Warwick Uni campus was safe Conservative (the other half is South Coventry and was Labour already), but all the students renting in Leamington took down the Conservative MP there. And as for Canterbury. Amazing.

[Crispsheets]

Great to see the student vote increased. Although DS voted Conservative

[ThroughThickAndThin01]

Yes £27,000 is a nice dangling carrot. Wonder what the turn out would have been without the bribe. Substantially less I'd imagine.

[Dunlurking]

Yes to the lower turnout without the carrot ThroughThickandThin, but teenagers aren't getting the student loan thing, still. Ds went through this in year 11, with many friends thinking they wouldn't go to university. It's only in the 6th form that the tide turned with the persuasion of teachers the majority went, in the end. Now the same thing is happening amongst dd's friends in her year 11. They were fired up over this election and desperate for a vote, something that never happened with ds's year group for the 2015 election. Dd was devastated that despite the Labour successes, she wouldn't get free university education. They are feeling more angry than ever about politics now. It will be interesting to see what happens if we get an autumn election. I suspect the Tories will make sure it happens in September, before the start of the university terms

[PhilODox]

Ridiculous. You should have taught your children to vote in the first place, without incentive needed.
My parents taught me, and I voted in every election, local included, whilst a student, despite moving many times, and needing to reregister.
The turnout in this country is pathetic, easy to see why when people think they need persuading to vote.

[Fairenuff]

I'm not sure that scrapping university fees is going to turn out to be as good as it sounds.

Currently, anyone can take out the loan and go to university. If the fees are stopped, numbers will be capped and there will be a limit on places available.

The universities will raise their entry requirements in order to choose who to allocate places to.

The likely result will be that most of the highest grades will be achieved by students from a more privileged background - private schools, new grammar schools, more wealthy areas, etc. and those from more deprived areas may lose out.

I think it's fairer to charge so that anyone who wants to can go but make sure that those with less financial support can take a bigger loan if it helps them.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Got to agree with Phil really,they should be voting anyway.

[Dunlurking]

Maybe they should be voting anyway and yes we have drummed it into our dcs but the fact is there are generations of families out there who never vote. My dh employs many such young people. They have felt disengaged for years.
Going back to the student loan thing. My dd's best friend went to the comprehensive, my dd went to the grammar. She was going to to do a college Btech in Social and Healthcare, not A levels, but has been persuaded to stay on in her sixth form for Levels now. She says she would never consider a degree, yet academically there wasn't much difference between her and dd in year 6. No one in her family have a degree and she is adamant she would never take out a huge loan to pay for one. She would make a fabulous nurse. and that's another thing - the government scrapping the student nurse bursaries

[QuiteUnfitBit]

I'm delighted so many young people voted. But Labour didn't get in and student tuition fees won't be scrapped, so how can Labour voters be celebrating. Instead we'll have months of chaos, and another general election. It might feel good to kick the Tories in the teeth, but the side effect is the country will suffer. And it will be the young and poor who suffer most.

[QuiteUnfitBit]

Incidentally, I'd be interested to see the difference in number of votes and voting patterns between the local elections and the general election. Has that been analysed anywhere? My DS voted in both, but differently in each election.

[goodbyestranger]

There was very clearly majority support for Labour among the student body before the fees promise came up. It's pretty insulting for older people to claim that the students can't think about bigger social issues and are led purely by money. My eight DC (six of whom are old enough to vote) represent a range of different political views but they came to those views before the snap election was announced and not a single one changed their vote. All of them tell me that their friends/ facebook feeds are overwhelmingly in support of Labour, even the non Labour supporter.

[goodbyestranger]

Why will the young and poor be hit most by the chaos? Please explain!

[AnnieAnoniMouse]

The 'youth vote' was so high because they want University fees scrapped, not because they're engaged in politics. I don't see how that is anything to be proud of at all.

Their vote has fucked the country, I hope parents take the time to explain that to them, instead of crowing over 'how proud' they are.

[MackerelOfFact]

I voted Lib Dem when I was a student in 2005 because they pledged to scrap tuition fees. The same patterns of seats weren't observed then. I don't think it's that simple.

[SuperBeagle]

Perhaps voting should be compulsory as it is where I live...

It never occurred to me not to vote

[Dunlurking]

*Annie it was last year's referendum that f*ked the country. That wasn't their fault. Now they are trying to remedy it.

[Dunlurking]

goodbyestranger - exactly what I have seen!

[Catminion]

My daughter who is 18 posted on Facebook about her vote and got 4000 likes and several hundred comments which she found extremely
patronising.

People were try to be kind and encouraging but she felt that as she has been interested in politics for a while, they were behaving as if she had just woken up to how great the Labour Party/Corbyn is etc. Many young are interested in politics - why not?

I think most voting is a combination of self interest and perception of the wider benefit. It is costing me a shed load of money to keep DD1 at Uni for a 5 year course and she will graduate with massive debt of £60k+. DD2 hasn't even started yet.

The young haven't 'fucked-over' the country - the older generations have.

[titchy]

The young have now seen that their vote does actually make a difference. When there's another election they'll remember that and come out again. That can only be good. As is the older voters not simply staying conservative.

[goodbyestranger]

Annie you're just jaded. And uber simplistic. All my DC are highly intelligent, highly educated and have come to their current political position years ago. I didn't vote the same way as any of them in this election (I vote LD), but I am very pleased that they're so engaged with politics and that elections aren't solely in the hands of fuddy duddies.

[corythatwas]

If students are already at university, particularly in their second or third years, surely they are bright enough to see that they are not going to be the ones benefiting from the abolition of tuition fees? No one has mentioned retrospective abolition of fees, have they? These are, many of them, young people who have already paid their fees and know they are not going to get them back.

The vibes I am getting is that many of them are concerned about the kind of society we are moving into: a society where the poor and sick and disabled are demonised and othered, a society which encourages self-centredness and looks suspiciously on compassion. A lot of young people do care.

I also get the feeling (from listening to students) that some have been very worried by May's lack of negotiation skills regarding Brexit: a question which is particularly relevant for those whose future careers may be tied up with Europe.

I am not sure I am in favour of the abolition of fees- and I speak as a parent of a child off to HE next year. But I think we might actually get a better Brexit deal if the British negotiators are encouraged to come over as less bullish. I am worried about the changes to the NHS and think it would be an excellent thing if we could be forced to slow down a little. I want the disastrous effects of the cuts to the police brought forcibly to the attention of whatever government we end up with. And I think the present austerity policy has proved an economic disaster- again, I want any government to be forced to think again.

[Squirrills]

My two student DC have always been interested in politics.
Both voted remain last year.

They were certainly very fired up by this election but in different ways.
One wanted to vote LD but was more concerned about preventing Corbyn getting in so voted conservative.
The other wanted to vote LD but wanted to block TM so voted labour.
So they both voted tactically against a party rather than for one .
As current students I don't think they would have benefited from abolition of tuition fees.

[QuiteUnfitBit]

Why will the young and poor be hit most by the chaos?
It was bad enough re Brexit, but now there'll be months of infighting, there'll be more cuts, overseas companies won't want to invest, jobs will be uncertain etc. If you have savings etc, you have a cushion to tide you over. Why didn't Corbyn show this much passion over Brexit? For me, the last straw will be if we end up with BJ as PM (although I'm pretty certain we won't... )

[horsemadmom]

We are Jewish. Neither of my DCs would vote for Corbyn and are pretty nauseous at the thought that some of their friends did.

[goodbyestranger]

horsemadmom each to their own, but your DCs will find themselves with plenty of friends with Jewish heritage who prioritize differently.

[goodbyestranger]

QuiteUnfitBit I'm no less enlightened.