124 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 which subjects to take for my A-levels. I can tell you, this is not an easy (0) , but I’ve finally made up my mind about one subject I want to take: government and politics. I think the deciding factor for me was the last (1) , when I felt rather excluded. My feelings were probably shared by a lot of other young people who weren’t 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 determining 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 Continent1, that electoral systems differ from country to country. I think it’s interesting that 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’, or member of parliament, 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, similar to our monarch, and there are countries where the president is the most powerful person in the (6) , like in France or the US. I’ve always been interested in 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) . And I wonder why, in a world that is becoming really small, people focus on nationality more than on global citizenship. I hope we will have constructive discussions about these issues in class. I think there are too many opinions being voiced and not enough respectful dialogue. If more young people took an interest in (8) for themselves and didn’t just vote for the same party as their parents, if they voted at all, politicians might be a little less comfortable and a little more nervous about 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 allow me to 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 once I’ve taken this class, it will at least be an informed decision. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjU2NDQ5MQ==