The Parliament through the eyes of history students

The Parliament through the eyes of history students 

Their interest: history and politics. Their age: 16 to 18. Their names: Julia, Lucy and Glen. Of the 35 students from Barrow Sixth Form College who went to Strasbourg last month, three came forward to comment on their visit to the European Parliament. Reactions on the spot.

Glen, Lucy and Julia in front of the plenary chamber

"This visit is an eye-opener. Before, we were quite ignorant" reveals Julia Kleinenberg. This 18-year old student from Cumbria would like to become a historian specialising in World War II. Yet, like most of her classmates, she has not learnt a lot about the European institutions at school. That's why the pupils were listening so intently to the short lecture on the European Union, however complicated its organisation may seem to the average person in the street.

"What we learned here is a good foundation for afterwards" explains Julia. An opinion shared by Glen Dodd: "We are acquiring more knowledge about politics than we would ever do from home, especially when we don't want to be influenced by our parents". At 17, the tall dark-haired student sees himself as a future history teacher. He finds it is "important to have a look on the inside and be able to compare different cultures".

Lucy, his classmate, is happy to learn about the "inside organisation" of the European Parliament: "This place matters because people here have a lot of responsibility". She also mentions a feeling of security, which Glen hastens to clarify: "It is very reassuring to notice how serious the atmosphere seems here. Look around and you won't see a lot of people laughing or joking. I think it is a good thing because we want our elected officials to act dutifully".

During their four-day trip, the British students visited Verdun, Strasbourg and Colmar, where their hotel was. In the Alsatian capital, they not only toured the European Parliament's main building, Louise Weiss, and attended a plenary session, but they also met with two North-West MEPs: Sajjad Karim and Sir Robert Atkins. For more than half an hour, both members of parliament answered questions from the students.

The European Parliament in Strasbourg: (from
left to right) P. Pfimlin, W. Churchill and L. Weiss.

A direct contact with MEPs

This direct contact brought up quite a few comments. Lucy, while she found the Q&A session most relevant, wishes MEPs were more "accessible to the general public", back in the UK. Julia enjoyed the meeting because "the politicians now feel more real and human". More generally, Glen thinks that "we need a more individual representation of the members of the European Parliament". "If we knew the MEPs' faces, we would be more interested in their activities", he argues.

One sure thing: if the young students had visited the UK Office of the European Parliament's website (www.europarl.org.uk), they would have found the photographs and contact details of all the 72 British MEPs.

Virginie Malicier