Teaching the election to second graders

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m in the process of preparing a 2-month unit on the election process for second graders, and I wanted to hit y’all up for thoughts, both insightful and stupid :).

Here’s the basic idea for the unit:
-Talk about ways that groups can make decisions. Vote on something (what to have for snack, when to have recess, something like that). Discuss when voting is appropriate, and when it’s not (we can’t vote away one person’s rights to help the rest of us out, for example).
-Talk about the upcoming election, that this is a chance for people to choose their local leaders and to choose national leaders. Explain who can vote, when they can vote, etc.; have students use Publisher to create get-out-the-vote posters that will be placed around town. (~80 second graders at our school means a decent number of posters!)
-Talk about taxes. I have a two-layer classroom management system, in which students earn marbles for good behavior, and when they earn a certain amount they gain a trivial little prize and dump their marbles into a class jar. When the class jar is filled, they get a party. I’m going to change this such that the class jar only gets filled by taxes from the individual jars–e.g., instead of earning 10 marbles to get a prize, you have to earn 11 or 12 marbles, with the extra 1 or 2 marbles going into the class jar. The higher the tax rate, the sooner the class party happens, but the less often each student earns an individual prize. They’ll vote on what the tax rate should be. (I’m not completely sure how to do this part, given that I’ll have students who can’t add single-digit numbers at the beginning of the year; this is a very rough idea).
-Talk about local elections and national elections. Invite two local candidates for county commissioner to come talk with the class.
-Teach the difference between fact and opinion. Teach that while opinions are neither right nor wrong, people base their opinions on facts, and some opinions are more solidly grounded in facts than others (“I like pizza” is fine. “I like pizza because it has a lot of protein” is fine, and supported. “I like pizza because it doesn’t have much fat in it” isn’t solidly grounded in fact.)
-Talk about a single local issue, involving the sale of part of a downtown park to a condo developer. If this sale goes through, it’ll mean more taxes, which will mean more money for schools and libraries; if it doesn’t go through, it’ll mean that everyone can keep using the park downtown.
-Talk about a single national issue on which Obama and McCain differ in a manner that can be explained to second-graders in a clear, unbiased, simplified fashion. Two issues I’m considering are health care (universal v. private, going back to our taxes lesson) and the war in Iraq (if I do this one, I’d look for a class in Iraq with Internet access who could be email partners; there’s a fabulous service for teachers that includes translation services).
-Ask students to discuss the local issue on a school discussion board, and discuss the national issue on a discussion board shared with a school in a more conservative area of the country (in last year’s straw poll, my students were something like 90% Obama fans).
-Form an opinion about either the local or the national issue.
-Write a letter to a local or national candidate asking them to adopt the student’s opinion about the local or national issue, and giving their reasons for adopting it.

That’s the basic idea. It’ll incorporate critical thinking skills, technology skills, communication and language skills, math skills (in tallying votes and figuring the classroom tax rate), and of course a heckuva lot of social studies facts.

While I’m a slightly hesitant Obama fan, I plan to be very careful not to betray my own opinions to the class.

Do folks have ideas on what I should add to, change, or take away from this outline? (Note that the strong presence of computer skills is non-negotiable: the project is in partial fulfillment of a technology grant for our schools).

Daniel

2

Not bad, but it seems a little comprehensive for second graders (I’ve taught 2nd grade, by the way). I might pare down the list just a little.

I think I might aso be wary about getting into real political issues. No matter how careful and neutral you try to be, there’s still a danger that some parent is going to think you’re politicizing the classroom. I think that it might be safer to draw completely fictional examples using fictional candidates. It’s not that I think using real examples would really be inappropriate, it’s just that real political issues, like religion, is such a minefield that you can get blown up whether you actually say anything inappropriate or not. Just saying the names “Bush” or “Obama” is enough to make a lot of parents’ assholes tighten up.

3

Yeah, I’m definitely worried about this. I think the tax thing will be the most difficult concept for them to grasp–but grasping it is key to understanding the Republican take on many issues. Without it, they’ll see the difference between universal health care and private health care as a no-brainer.

Here I disagree. The tightass parent is a risk that’s worth taking, IMO: I’ve run this by my principal to make sure she’s with me on it, and she is. I’ll send home a letter first explaining the unit and explaining that I’m not going to push any agenda, and then I’ll take my chances.

It’s worth the risk because it’s connecting kids to actual issues and to actual candidates; it’s getting them involved in democracy in an authentic fashion. They’ll be doing just what active adult citizens do, in trying to influence candidates. As much as possible I want their work in the classroom to be meaningful work, with an audience that extends beyond me.

Also, my students were pretty interested in the election even during primary season last year; I expect an even higher level of interest this year. Since teaching about local government and about the election process is part of our state curriculum, I’m definitely gonna parlay their interests into the unit.

Daniel

4

Instead of using the current election, why not cast it in terms of an earlier President and an earlier local issue? Then you could show the children the results of the choices made.

But really, how old is a 2nd-grader? 6 or 7? Are they really going to understand all that?

5

Again, because it has less impact on their lives. A lot of them are going to be hearing adults talking about Obama and McCain, seeing television commercials, and so on; by giving them a context in which to understand this, it’ll tie the education into something relevant and immediately useful to them (useful in the sense of giving meaning to their world, not in the sense of building a boat).

Ages range from 6 to 8, with the 8-year-olds being generally kids who were held back a year. Which part, other than taxes, do you think they’d not be able to understand?

Daniel

6

We did it differently in 3rd grade. Rather than talking about the two candidates, we introduced elections by having students pick a football team and try to persuade the class why they should vote for that team.

I see one big potential problem in using this year’s election: Race. This could be easily seen by kids as a white vs black issue. That is a tough one to handle.

7

Maybe. I see handling it head-on, in the step wherein we talk about good facts on which to build an opinion, and bad facts on which to build an opinion. I’ll ask kids whether race is a good one, and let them figure out their own answer.

Daniel

8

Unless you’re in an intolerant area, introducing race just to denounce race as an issue seems rather counterproductive. If the kids are unaware of the idea of thinking in terms of skin color, isn’t that good? You might as well pick one of the kids in the classroom and point out how he has really big ears…and then tell everyone to ignore the fact that the kid has BIG EARS. Kid will get picked on for the next three years.

9

:dubious: Dunno how it is where you live, but here the kids are quite aware of race. Last year I heard a kid declaring he didn’t like white people, for example, and another kid describe the Civil War as a war between black and white people (black people won, she explained). I won’t be bringing anything up that they won’t already have heard.

Daniel

10

To make it realistic, the tax rates should be progressive - those that earn the most marbles should have to donate twice as much as the rest, or something like that. Your system is a flat tax system, and gives a distorted impression of how taxes work in the US.

Otherwise it looks like you are pushing Steve Forbes for President.

Regards,
Shodan

11

Fair enough, but aren’t you leaving yourself open to issues of bias? Regardless of whether the claims are valid. Whereas if you were to discuss an election from the 19th century - say Abraham Lincoln’s - you wouldn’t.

I just think that overall it’s too much for that age bracket. Particularly the debating aspects. But you know the children you teach far better than I do.

12

While that may be, YOU should not be the one that brings up race in the context of any election discussion.

If one of the kids says something race related, then you should explain why race doesn’t matter in an election for the President.

13

Or change it to a discussion of diversity, which can cover more than race. Obama is black; McCain has physical disabilities. You can talk about how both men overcame their disadvantages to make it to the Senate and into the Presidential race. FDR hid the fact that he used a wheelchair, but McCain’s physical problems are more or less ignored. You might even push the idea that someday, race will be equally a matter of indifference.

Regards,
Shodan

14

Shodan, I like the diversity idea, and will probably handle it that way. The progressive tax idea is almost certainly too hard for them to grasp. Call it a sales tax :).

Daniel

15

We had a state legislator (one of the kids’ uncles) come to my son’s 4th grade class and demonstrate the legislative process this way:

He brought 4 different kinds of cookies and selected 4 leaders who would each advocate for one kind of cookie. They each got up and made a speech as to why the class should vote for their cookie. They had to be pasionate and persuasive. No one was allowed to eat any of the cookies until over 50% of the class voted for the same type of cookie. A very rowdy discussion broke out and people got very excited.

In the end the charismatic leader of the sugar cookie faction convinced the class to vote for his cookie over the more innately desirable chocolate chip cookie because the chocolate chip leader was an unispiring dud. Politics in action.

16

At least they were prepared for the 2000 election.

Regards,
Shodan

17

I love it!

Daniel

18

Why not just show them the value of elections?

Choose a leader through a non-elective method - such as a random drawing.
Let that person make all the decsions for a while.

Then discuss what would have happened if a more democratic way of choosing a leader was used.

19

To continue…

On Monday, we’ll distribute menus allowing students to vote on which cookie we’ll have tomorrow. The ballots will be collected and set aside - but not counted.
We eat the cookie the leader wanted.

On Tuesday - Same menu - same game.

Etc.

On Friday we let the leader prepare a new menu which is used all next week.

Etc.

After a while the kids will figure out their vote isn’t worth a thing.

Hopefully, they’ll start asking who’s preparing the menu.

Once they begin the rebellion you can explain what had just been done.
This would be a good time to ask if “Representitive Government” is a good idea.

20

I like this - are you planning on talking about other ways people in groups make decisions? Consensus, for example - I was about 30 before I realized that the reason (well, one reason) things are so f-ed up and slow to change in the Congo is because they have a completely different concept of what a leader should do - a leader, to them, is someone who can persuade ALL the people that what he wants is the best way. Voting is a bizarre concept - if you have 51% of the people for something, that means 49% of the people will be unhappy - what’s the sense in that? So their elections don’t hold up except by force - the minority of the people who didn’t get what they want don’t see the vote as binding, and, deep down, neither do the majority. (I think I first read about this in The Poisonwood Bible, but I verified it through some talks with Congolese American friends of mine.)

Dictatorship is another method, of course, and one that 2nd graders are well familiar with - they see you as a benevolent dictator everyday!

Overall, I like your plan. It is *very *ambitious, and I suspect you’ll find yourself cutting some things for time or lack of comprehension as you go along, but it’s a great place to start from.