Yesterday, I was talking to several friends about the current political situation, and I brought up the amendment process during the discussion, only to be met with blank stares from everyone else in the group. I paused, confused by their uncomprehending expressions and my heart sank as I realized I was the only one out of four intelligent young adults who understood the process for adding amendments to our constitution.

On another occasion, back when I was a senior in high school, I was talking to a friend about how excited I was to be able to vote and another friend expressed her resolve to never vote, saying, "I really just don't care, and it isn't like my vote matters anyway." Her words still haunt me. We are still friends of course, and I have long since accepted that convincing her to vote is a lost cause, but it breaks my heart every time I think about it.

When I was in high school, I was a part of my school's Magnet Program, which was a sort of scholarship program through public schools in my area so that academically successful students could attend whatever public school they choose. Under the requirements of Boone High School's Magnet Program, I was asked to choose a sort of major, and take a course pertaining to this subject each year. My choices were criminal justice, finance or law. I chose law.

As a freshman, I took civics for my Magnet requirement, which covered everything from the three branches of government and their functions to the Bill of Rights to important statutes and laws created at the local and federal level. My second year, I took a course called comprehensive, where we learned about all the different levels of the courts and their powers, learned about the inner workings of the court system and were taught the complexities of our rights both in everyday life and in the face of arrest and / or trial. Junior year, we put this knowledge into action, working in internships with local lawyers and participating in a course called courtroom procedures, where we memorized key court cases throughout history and participated in mock trials where we learned all the rules and regulations of the courts. My senior year, I took two half-year courses, the first AP Government, which taught us a much deeper and more developed understanding of our government than freshman civics and, for the second semester, a course called comparative politics, which showed us similarities and differences between our own government and others in the modern world.

Stop now and think. Do you know how often we elect members of Congress? Do you know the three branches of government? Can you name the levels of the court, in order, from the local level to the Supreme Court? Do you know the first 10 amendments to our constitution? Do you know how a bill becomes a law? Do you understand how the electoral college works? Do you know what checks and balances are and how they work between the branches of government? Would you know your rights if you were approached by a policeman right this moment? Do you know how those rights change based on what state you are in or what the circumstances around you are?

I do, thanks to four years of specialized courses pertaining to the inner workings of our nation. Sadly, though, I am in the severe minority with this knowledge, as most Americans were lucky to receive a middle school civics class where they were taught the school house rock song "I'm Just a Bill" and given tree-shaped charts with the words "Judicial Branch," "Legislative Branch" and "Executive Branch" without any real explanation of what that means.

Most Americans confuse the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution, feel like their votes don't matter, don't clearly understand their rights for searches and seizures, pat-downs, attorneys and a million other little details that no one ever takes the time to explain.

Every day, I hear people complain about the government, the economy, the elections...everything. I hear it from friends, I hear it from family, I see it on the news and I read it in newspapers. Complaints are everywhere, unrest is everywhere and yet, no one is doing anything about it because no one knows how.

I am confident that if we teach our children about our country's history, our government's functions, our political system's workings, our citizen's rights, then they will use that knowledge to make needed changes and improve the nation. Maybe this sounds overly optimistic, but I am living breathing proof that educating people about the government creates an interest in the government and a wish to improve upon it. I, and my 70-something classmates from the Boone Law Magnet graduating class of 2015 are all proof that teaching people the issues creates a desire to solve them. We are all concerned voters, aware citizens and generally well-educated Americans, and we shouldn't be in the minority.

I'm not saying every high school student should be put through a rigorous law-centered education, but at least add on a civics course to history requirements for graduation rather than just the vague "4 History Credits" currently required by most schools in the nation. Teach kids their rights. Show them why their vote matters. Show them how our government works so they can make educated decisions that make the government work for their benefit, rather than its own. America is an incredible nation, with a government created to work for the people, directed by the people and unless the people know how it works, how can they be expected to direct it in a way that is for their benefit?