After last Tuesday's presidential election our program got together and shared briefly what we saw happening in our classrooms in the days and weeks leading up to this historic event. While some ideas on how to approach the topic with kids were wonderful, some of what I heard simply appalled me. Primarily I was shocked by the notion that some simply avoided discussion of the topic.One of the endearing stories shared by a classmate was that of a kindergarten class whose participation and learning surrounding the democratic process included having parents bring in different kinds of pie, vie for why theirs is the best, and then having kids vote for a pie, and ultimately share in eating the winner. I love this idea and it is adorably age appropriate.
On the other hand I heard about a room whose teacher did not want to handle the hot topic because only one of their students was in support of McCain. Apparently their had been previous incidents at the school that involved bullying in relation to political preference. While I understand the seriousness of this situation I also... understand the seriousness of this situation which is why I see it as such a brilliant opportunity for learning and classroom discussion. All kinds of meaningful discussion could be had here and should be had.
It could be approached from multiple angles and themes: respecting one another, what it means to be part of a community, why bullying is wrong, how to handle disagreement through mediation, how to participate in a civil discussion, why in our county we have a right to keep our political affiliations private (anonymous voting), how the democratic process works, and why this election is an historical event. None of these have to include anyone's personal opinions about politics. I also like the idea of having students participate in a debate with assigned roles. No I am not advocating 25 democratic students against 1 republican student. Assign half the group to back McCain and half to back Obama, give them some clues about what each stands for, and let them debate or let them try their hand at finding compromises between the two parties- reaching across the aisle if you will.
I really believe if we are to progress to a nation who can discuss compromise, who can keep calm when dealing with emotionally and politically sensitive issues, and who can participate more wholly, passionately, and effectively in democracy we will do it by teaching the next generation the skills of peaceful dialogue and mediation. An opportunity such as this election comes around every four years, or has never come before this one if you consider the issue of race, and it seems a shame, a disservice even, to miss it!
