Politics on the curriculum should be a no brainer

But I'm going to say it anyway because I just can't be the only one. Party political jargon is starting to really frazzle my brain ahead of this election, and I just don't understand why things are still so complicated.

I'm always a bit scared of admitting that, because I know that as a grown-up member of society, who contributes to tax and things, that I'm expected to have a full and well-rounded idea of what I'm doing when it comes to voting.

And I do, to an extent, but it took me almost 10 years as a legal adult to do so. I'm quite lucky that in the job that I do, the buzz of party politics has been humming through our newsroom like a bumblebee for weeks.

We've got a normal human as our political editor, who can talk at great length about policies but also about things like Doctor Who and can quote Alan Partridge. If I don't understand something, I consult him and he explains it in human terms.

Politicians, I fear, do not talk in human terms.

When I did my journalism training, I was taught public affairs so as to better understand government and how it operates on a national and local level. But aside from that, there's so much I confess to not truly understanding, because no one ever explained it to me. I want a good handle on everything that I feel it's vital to know in order to comfortably vote for the party that is set to dictate so many things in my life for the next four years. I didn't have that.

And I feel that the blame for that lies in education, or lack of in this case. Why did I learn how to thread a sewing machine in textiles, but not what knits together the fabric of our society? I spent hours making things like smiley faced pizzas and fruit salads in home economics, but I didn't learn about the economy that dictated how much we paid for the produce that it contained.

I don't understand why children at school are not taught about politics. It's all well and good lowering the voting age to 16, I think it should be. If you are old enough to leave school at 16, and get married with your parents consent, you should be able to have a voice when it comes to how our country operates.

But, if young people are going to vote, they need to be handed the tools that can allow them to do so knowledgeably and confidently. When I was 18 and could vote at last, I did so. I went for the same party that my family backed, that my whole street seemed to back. The party that our estate had always championed. I didn't, by all accounts, know what the heck I was doing.

There's a worry that by teaching politics in schools, staff might leave an imprint in one political direction or another on the children they teach. That's a sensible worry, but then surely it's better to change the way it's taught rather than the notion of teaching them at all.

Now I'm older and arguably a bit wiser, I can read and understand manifestos and make an educated choice. But it shouldn't have taken two general elections for me to get there.