way2go! 6, Schulbuch

118 UniT 09 | Make a change! Would you like to have a subject at school that only deals with politics? What would you expect to learn there? Discuss your ideas with a partner and share them in class. Read the article that Hannah wrote for the school magazine at Whitehall. Some words are missing. Choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D) for each gap (1–10). Put a cross (  ) in the correct box. The first one (0) has been done for you. SPEAKING 4 LANGUAGE IN USE 5  1  the Continent: the mainland/continent of Europe except for the British Isles Why choose ‘government and politics’? Like all of us in Year 11, in addition to our GCSE worries, I now have to decide on the range of subjects to choose for my A levels. I can tell you, this is not an easy (0)  , but I’ve finally made up my mind on one subject I’m going to take: government and politics. I think the deciding point for me was the last (1)  , when I felt rather excluded. My feelings were probably shared by a lot of other young people who were not old enough to vote. Another problem of course was the fact that many young people simply did not care about casting their votes. I was really worried that older, rather disgruntled people were deciding over my fate as a future (2) of the UK and was quite disappointed by the result. The party that won will be making big decisions that will change my life, yet I know nothing about these people and how the system works. Another thing that got me going was the fact that I found out, through relatives living on the Continent 1 , that electoral systems differ from country to country. I think it’s interesting how most Western (3)  , even though they stress that they are exactly that – a democracy – have different systems of (4)  . In Britain, we are used to electing somebody who represents us directly in Parliament, our ‘MP’, but this is not the case in other countries where people (5) for a party, not a person. There are countries where the president is just a symbolic head of state, a bit like our Queen – or King –, and there are countries where he or she is the most powerful person in the (6)  , like in France or the US. I’ve always been interested in finding out how society works, why some people have more power or wealth than others and how we could achieve a more just balance. I’m also interested in the different (7)  . Communism, for example, on paper looks really good, so I’m hoping to find out why it failed so spectacularly in Europe. And I’m wondering why, in a world that is starting to be really small, people focus on nationality more than global citizenship. I think if more young people became interested in (8) on their own, and not just vote, if they vote at all, for the same party their parents vote for, politicians might be a little less comfortable and a little more on edge when it comes to pushing through reforms, and that would be a good thing. All this I’m hoping to understand by the time I have finished my A levels. It doesn’t mean that I’ll love politics, but it will let me participate fully and hopefully meaningfully in the (9) processes of this country. It will still be difficult to decide who to vote for once I’ve reached (10) age, but at least it’s going to be an informed decision. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv