Episode Twenty-two: "This Is Our Youth" with Jahnavi Rao

Unreasonable

What if young people took their collective future into their own hands, cultivated and supported their own candidates, rather than relying on the elders who appear increasingly out-of-touch with their concerns and will inevitably disappoint them?

That sounds promising, until you discover the incredibly low voter registration rates among high schoolers arriving at the age that was once considered a major milestone: voting in your first election.

Culture warriors have made it so that the simplest civics lesson is contested, reducing that awareness, and many teachers watch their words out of fear of being accused of “indoctrination.” Who really knows what these kids are being taught?

Jahnavi Rao knows. At 16, the now 23-year-old Harvard grad founded New Voters, and held her first voter registration drive amongst her fellow high schoolers in Berwyn, PA. Since then, over 300 volunteers have registered more than 80,000 young voters across 39 states, thanks to New Voters.

In this conversation, Jahnavi provides insight to a demographic we think we know, but probably don’t. It turns out that Gen Zs are more than their characterization as smartphone ostriches, buried in their curated virtual worlds as the real world conspires against them.
The kids are alright. And it’s their turn to lead.

Please share this conversation with the young people in your life. It’s an important message. But it's better if they hear it from her.

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