Let’s be real: a lot of students at MCHS don’t care about politics. At least they say they don’t. They brush it off, scroll past it, and go back to their lives as if nothing around them is being decided behind closed doors.

But here’s the truth: that attitude is a privilege. And if you have the right to speak up, to learn, to organize, to vote soon, and you don’t use it, then you’re choosing silence. And silence doesn’t protect anyone but the people already in power.

Politics isn’t something that begins at 18 or magically starts mattering when you get a job or pay taxes. Politics is happening to you right now, and pretending otherwise doesn’t stop it. You don’t need to be an adult to be affected. You already are. In fact, every school policy, every piece of curriculum, every safety measure in our buildings, that’s political. Who represents our community on the school board, whether or not students have access to mental health support, how our schools are funded, what rights LGBTQ+ students have, what books we can read — all of that is political, and all of that affects us directly.

It’s easy to say you’re too young. It’s easy to say, “I don’t know enough” or “It doesn’t really matter.” But that’s the kind of comfort that comes with privilege. Because if you feel unaffected, it means someone else is already fighting for you. It means you’re sitting in the result of someone else’s work. And if you’re not using your voice to protect those rights or extend them to others who don’t have them, you’re letting them disappear.

We live in Illinois, one of the few states that has made real progress in protecting student rights. Here, you can pre-register to vote at 16. If you’re 17 and will be 18 by the next general election, you can even vote in the primary. That’s not true in every state. Here, you have the legal right to take up to five mental health days per school year without a doctor’s note (Public Act 102-0266). Illinois was also the first state in the country to pass a law banning book bans in public schools and libraries (Public Act 103-0100). Our state has taken clear action to defend reproductive rights and protect gender-affirming care. But none of that is permanent. None of it is guaranteed. And none of it happened on its own.

These protections exist because people showed up — because students protested, organized, wrote letters, started clubs, held town halls and, yes, voted. Teens helped make that happen — not adults and not politicians, but students. And if you’re living in a state where those rights are intact, and you’re still choosing to stay silent, then you’re taking that privilege for granted.

The worst part is that we have more access than ever. We can learn about local issues in seconds. We can find our representatives, read new bills and follow youth-led organizations that are making real change. Websites like BallotReady.org and Vote.org make it easy to check your voter status or learn about upcoming elections. Podcasts like NPR’s “Up First” give you a 15-minute rundown of the biggest national and international stories. Organizations like Chicago Votes, Students Demand Action, and the Sunrise Movement are all led by people not much older than us. There are tools everywhere. All you have to do is care enough to use them.

Because here’s the reality: if you’re a junior or senior, you will most likely be able to vote in the 2026 midterm elections. And all of us will be eligible by the 2028 presidential election. We are months, not years, away from being the people who choose the direction of our country. And people in power know that. That’s why they’re trying to make it harder for young people to vote. That’s why they pass laws that close polling places near campuses, that reject student IDs as valid voter identification, that rewrite curriculum to avoid topics they don’t want us to understand. If our voices didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be trying so hard to silence them.

We are already seeing the consequences of staying quiet. Across the country, other states are stripping rights away. In Florida and Texas, students can be punished for talking about gender identity in classrooms. In 21 states, abortion is banned or heavily restricted (Guttmacher Institute, 2024). School libraries are being emptied. History is being rewritten. And even though we live in Illinois, that doesn’t mean we’re safe from the ripple effects. If we don’t pay attention, we’ll wake up one day and realize our rights have been chipped away too.

Young people are already making a difference. After the Parkland shooting in 2018, students created March for Our Lives, which led to over 250 new gun safety laws nationwide. Chicago Votes helped pass legislation to bring civic education and voter registration to jails. The Illinois Youth Climate Movement continues to fight for climate policy in Springfield. These movements didn’t come from adults telling us what to do. They came from students refusing to stay silent.

If you’re not 18 yet, that doesn’t mean you’re powerless. You can pre-register to vote. You can talk about politics with your family and classmates. You can organize. You can show up at school board meetings. You can start a club. You can write op-eds for the school paper. You can follow and share real news. You can show people that you’re paying attention, and that you won’t let them make decisions for you without a fight.

The point is, you don’t have to wait. And honestly, you can’t afford to. Because if we wait until something directly affects us, it will already be too late. That’s how rights disappear. That’s how silence becomes the loudest voice in the room.

If you have the right to speak, speak. If you have the right to learn, learn. If you have the right to vote soon, start preparing now. Your silence isn’t neutral. It’s permission. It tells lawmakers that you’re too distracted to fight back. That you’re too comfortable to care. And that is exactly what they want.

But that doesn’t have to be who we are. We are smart enough. We are old enough. We are loud enough. And we’re close enough to voting age to start paying serious attention.

Politics isn’t some faraway world for adults in suits. It’s your world. Your future. And your responsibility.

So step up. Speak out. Educate yourself. And when your time comes to vote, whether it’s next year or in 2028, be ready. Because this time, no one gets to decide for us but us.