Dinner table conversations have begun to simmer once again. As the chatter about the previous presidential election begins to die down, there's an interesting shift in our political climate.

But don't be fooled, the fight isn't over, even if some of us feel defeated.

This November, we will all have the chance to choose our Congress members. Yes. Choose. A synonym could be "vote," however, some are passive, or even resenting, of that term.

Nonetheless, this infinitely important choice of people who choose, essentially, which rights we will have granted to us has become a chore, and it's a problem. We, as young people, feel this lack of motivation to go to the polls. Yet, while many of our elders blame us for this lack of interest, they do not realize the impact some of their own actions. Mostly condescending. Always discouraging.

First, they do not trust us with having proper morals. In a Pew Research study, it was found that 79% of Americans don't think that young people have as much of a sense of right and wrong as they did 50 years ago. But this study was just putting a number to something young people could pick up. Just turn on the news. Politicians like Scott Wagner, a candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, called an environmental activist "young and naive" when she pointed out his shady campaign contributions of $200,000 from fossil fuel companies, lobbyists, and political action groups. A credible, educated young woman being belittled because she did not blindly support his candidacy. What message does this send to young voters? True, some are vitalized by this animosity, but many are discouraged from voting. They think, "how am I smart enough to vote if someone as educated as them getting thrown under the bus?"

Another famous example: the Parkland shooting survivors, including Emma Gonzales. After voicing her opinions on stricter gun regulations, the argument that many conservatives used to belittle her had to to with her age, not the content of her arguments.

Even without opening our news apps, dinner table conversations imply the same thing. I asked around campus and the response was clear: students felt invalidated at every corner. One girl recounts trying to give her input at the dinner table on her feelings about the woman's right to make decisions about her own body, only to be brushed aside as the other adults continued their conversation. This smug behavior is indicative of how much some of our elders value our opinion: not at all. We are seen as juvenile, thus so should our opinions.

But don't get me wrong, some young people may be misinformed about our political system, just as many adults are misinformed. However, this isn't a sign of personal, moral failure. Our education systems are failing to prepare us to be active citizens. For all Americans, civics should be as important as grammar. How can we navigate our country when we don't understand how it is run?

And it shows for something: take the results from the "Nation's Report Card" (formerly called the National Assessment of Educational Progress). Only 22% of eighth-graders scored "proficient" on the civics section, and 26% scored "below basic," meaning that they likely could not explain the responsibilities of citizens or identify the rights given to Americans, or the documents correlated with those rights. That's a problem. Kids are entering high school with the bare minimum of knowledge on how our government works, and the majority of states do not require a civics course. In New Jersey, for example, high school students are only required to take a social studies course that has some civics lessons integrated into the curriculum.

Yet, some argue that high school may even be too little, too late. Charles Quigley, the executive director of the Center for Civic Education, a nonprofit group that advocates for civics learning, says that teaching civics to children as young as kindergarten can instill ideas of authority, community, and even government accountability. More and more bills are being written for each state to begin installing civics into the required curriculum, which will, in turn, give high school teachers the building blocks to grow a sense of responsibility in their students.

So, the combination of the lack of faith in the younger generations and the lack of education of how our government works make it difficult for us students to see ourselves voting. But we must overcome these obstacles and decide the future that we want. To choose the people that will change our lives forever. To give a voice to those who cannot vote.

To assess how much you know about your government, check out this article by NPR, where you can take a quiz with questions from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.