BEACONSFIELD - After years of sliding voter participation, many people are expecting yet another record-low turnout for the 2011 federal election.
Turnout for the 2008 election dipped below 60 percent, and one University of Toronto political scientist is expecting next week's election will see only 57 percent of eligible Canadians cast a ballot.
But as voters in their twenties, thirties and forties skip the election to concentrate on other diversions, high school students are very interested in something they cannot take part in.
Beaconsfield High School History teacher Louise Adam got her students turned on to the election by giving them a simple assignment: ordering them to watch ten minutes of the Leaders' debate.
The next day many came in feeling connected to politics.
"A lot of them watched the whole debate. I didn't watch the whole debate," said Adam.
Many were as hooked as they were baffled, but they liked how Prime Minister Stephen Harper stayed calm while being attacked by the other three leaders.
"They felt like Stephen Harper was being picked on," said Adam.
Now they're engaged, clipping newspaper articles, sharing links to stories, and thinking about what they would do as prime minister.
Among their ideas: making fewer promises, keeping the ones they make, and improving the environment.
Life lessons that reach far beyond the classroom.
