Vote for US by Joshua A. Douglas

Author:Joshua A. Douglas
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633885110
Publisher: Prometheus Books

YES, IT'S OK FOR TEACHERS TO DISCUSS POLITICS

Jen Hitchcock engages her twelfth graders with the big issues of the day. They discuss whether it's good or bad for our country to be in a state of perpetual campaigns. They cover campaign finance and whether special interests have too much power over our elections, balanced with the right to free speech. They analyze gerrymandering. These are issues that face everyone, regardless of party or ideology. Ms. Hitchcock is ever vigilant not to impart her own political views, desiring solely to foster an open discussion. She frequently acts as a devil's advocate and counters whichever side her students take. She grades on how well students make their arguments, not on their outcomes or viewpoints. As she says, “these topics are skill-based. They need to know how to tackle real-world issues that are happening in front of them in a respectful way, even if they disagree.”31

Teacher Brittany Marrs of Magnolia, Texas, is also not shy about invoking politics in her social studies curriculum. In addition to her regular teaching activities, Mrs. Marrs sponsors a group called the Student Leadership Program. The students in that group put together presentations for the high school's seniors about political participation and civic responsibility. The effort culminates in the school providing assistance to all eligible students to register to vote.32 In 2016, the group helped to register about two hundred of the three hundred eligible students in the school. As Mrs. Marrs told the Houston Chronicle, “It's not just about voter registration, it's encouraging life-long citizen participation. That's what we strived for in this initiative, getting students excited to go register and starting those habits young to create a better Magnolia.”33

Benjamin Fabian of Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico, Virginia, along with a coworker, developed a project for his students to simulate the legislative process. The students had to choose an interest group to research and then draft a law that the interest group would favor. Students could then contact lawmakers to see if the legislators would put the idea onto their agenda.34

Michael Martirone of Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, invites judges, ambassadors, congressional candidates, and members of Congress to speak to his class, which, he says, allows his students “to more clearly develop their points of view and see a practical application of our content.”35 Trish Everett of Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also invites guest speakers, particularly alumni of the school who are involved in public and community service. She says that these speakers can inspire the next generation of leaders, especially to demonstrate “the value of persistence and personal connection [and] that the investment of energy and enthusiasm is worth it.”36

These examples show why just teaching facts about American democracy—reciting the preamble to the Constitution, for instance—is woefully insufficient. As education expert Peter Levine of Tufts University explains, “[d]eliberation is one of the advanced skills necessary in a democracy. In courses and schools where ‘civic education’ devolves into learning a lot of facts about the official political system, students don't learn such skills.

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