Helping young people think about elections
How can we help young people think thoughtfully about this year’s vigorous, sometimes bitter election campaigns? This can be a great week to help young people gain a better understanding and even respect for what’s happening.
Being in schools two-three days a week, I have a chance to talk with, and listen to youngsters. That leads to the first suggestion:
* Ask youngsters if they have questions about the election. When I did this recently with some six-seven year olds, I learned that some wondered if the winner of an election would hurt or even kill the losers. These young people had heard very negative ads on television. They’d also heard news about the civil war in Syria. They put the ads and the war together, and wondered if we would have a war here. This may sound far-fetched, but these youngsters were concerned.
It was a great opportunity to talk about the American tradition of battling in elections, but then accepting the results and moving on, peacefully. The children were relieved to hear about this. They had been worried.
* Give youngsters a chance to be involved. When our children (now adults) were younger, we included them in various political activities. These included, for example, going to fundraisers for candidates and helping distribute campaign literature. We always gave them a choice about participating, and offered different options. This led to lively family conversations, along with a belief that being involved is a good thing.
Most campaigns welcome help, whether they are at the local, state or national levels. With the Internet, it’s easy to find out more about almost any campaign you want. You and your youngster(s) can contact the campaign and ask about ways to be involved.
* Help youngsters develop an accurate historical perspective. This may sound cynical. But the fact is, many of the most dire predictions have not happened. For example, when Richard Nixon resigned, some people predicted it would be decades before the Republicans won the Presidency. It wasn’t. Vice President Gerald Ford took office in August 1974, followed by Jimmy Carter. In the next election, 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan was elected.
In a somewhat similar way, some predicted it would take decades for the Democrats to recover from the landslide loss of Democratic Senator George McGovern, who recently died. President Richard Nixon received more than 60 percent of the popular vote when he defeated McGovern in 1972. Just four years later, Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, won.
Many Americans are restless and pragmatic. They are not locked in to one party or another. This helps explain the fact that over the last fifty years, the U.S. has gone back and forth between political parties (John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, Democrats, Richard Nixon, Republican, Jimmy Carter, Democrat, Ronald Reagan, Republican, George H.W. Bush, Republican, Bill Clinton, Democrat, George W. Bush, Republican and Obama, Democrat).
We’re almost never totally satisfied, or dissatisfied by election results. But we can, and I think should, help young people understand that despite our problems, people all over the world admire and appreciate the value of voting.
Joe Nathan, formerly a Minnesota public school teacher, administrator and PTA president, directs the Center for School Change. Reactions welcome, joe@centerforschoolchange.org
November 6, 2012 @ 10:44 am
In defense of teachers and school children those who participate in politics have always participated in politics and there is a good majority who were left out at the creation of this manifest destiny concept of a country. Because of this teachers are left to be the leveling factor to inform our children. Now my point is as a community we need to also support the knowledge, as Joe pointed out, that gets passed on to our community of youngsters. If we truly believe we are all community. I did not read the article but I can assume those who are in the mindset that a war could break out are most likely from communities who were originally left out of this process and are not having conversations at the dinner table or coffee shops about politics or this forum. Similar to those communities of youngsters from Chicago you are referencing. I may be speaking to the choir but cynicism about our school systems does nothing for fixing the problem of teachers who are on the front lines fighting the good fight with young folks acting as social workers, counselor, therapists, mothers, father and still expected to teach our young folks. If you think teachers do such a horrible job of teaching history…I challenge you to give it a shot for a year or five and then assess where the problems are. Solutions are what we need not attacking those who are giving it a fair shot at an honorable selfless profession. Joe thanks for the heads up on the paranoia of the these young folk in our community. As a former teacher who is transitioning into mental health I’m very curious to understand more of their mindset.