I’m gearing up a social studies unit for my third graders on government, and obviously the election will be part of the unit. My kids are from Democratic families for the most part, but I don’t know everyone’s affiliation, and I suspect I have at least a few Republicans in the class.
I want them to understand why people vote, and I want them to understand the services provided by government, and I want to discuss the election itself. But I don’t want to have folks getting all “WOOO, Obama!” in class. Already I’ve had some kids ask questions like, “What about the Republicans who are bad guys?”, and I’m trying to find ways to answer their questions.
There are a few things I consider:
I’m pretty left-wing, but that’s none of their business. Nevertheless, if I discuss the particular candidates and their stances, I have to watch out for my own biases; I definitely don’t want to give them the Pinko Liberal view of issues, since that’s not my job.
I want to respect their own views and those of their families. But do I need to show respect to familial views that demonize the opposition?
I figure that showing respect toward political opponents is a value that should be taught in schools. But is that overstepping in any way?
Yesterday when I got the bad-guy-REpublican question, I gave a little speech about how, after the election, close to half the country would have seen their preferred candidate lose, and that the day after the election we’d still all be Americans who need to work together and respect one another.
I’m curious what other folks think: if you were teaching civics and elections to third graders, how would you handle partisanship?
I would have thought that was too young to be discussing more than the mechanics of democracy and the various branches of government and rights/duties of a citizen.
In secondary school I could see the point of discussing parties, policies and issues, but 7-11 year olds just aren’t mature enough to discuss them.
I would just direct a partisan question back to the questioner’s parents. That way you can never be accused of being partisan in the classroom.
I would be tempted to teach them some basic critical thinking skills. Things like: what is the opposition saying? Who is affected by their proposed policies? Why do they support some things but not others? How do you feel about what they say? What would your response be? What would your constructive response be?
WAG, since I don’t know your third-graders’ level of sophistication or familiarity with American history, but it might help to tell a little of the history behind the political parties: when and why they were formed, what they’ve represented in the past, who were some of the most famous Presidents (etc.) from each party—with the caveat that what a party stands for or whom it represents can change over time.
Maybe your class will be part of the generation that ends the polarization in this country.
It’s great that you’re focusing on respecting conflicting opinions. I have no suggestions for dealing with children whose families demonize the opposition, except to tread carefully. Children that age *will *go home and report what you say to their parents.
Something that floors me every election is how much we take for granted a peaceful transfer of power. Despite the polarization, extremism, hatred, intolerance, etc., we remain generally sane, even when things don’t go our way. This is something for which we can be truly grateful.
Treading into specific stances of the parties may be going too far. But if you do I would also suggest covering some points of agreement. Kids need to understand that it is possible for the parties to work together.
what’s the problem? You just answered your own question:
“I want them to understand why people vote, and I want them to understand the services provided by government”
Then tell the kids that services have to be paid for.
That’s about as much as 3rd graders can understand, I think. Then put it on their level: candy bars, or ice cream..
They probably know about sales tax, even they can’t calculate it yet. So tell them how much a package of M&M’s costs in your state, and how much it costs in the neighboring state. Ask them why it is 5 cents more over there, and tell them that in the expensive state there are better schools , with bigger swingsets in the playgrounds.*
To discuss the election, just say that Obama wants a lot of services, with a lot of people to pay for them. Romney wants less services, and fewer people to pay for it.
If a kid says that Romney or Obama is evil: just tell him that no candidate is a “bad guy”, they just have different ways of giving the people services,at different costs.
I’d guess that some version of the “People can disagree about ideas and it doesn’t make either one of them a bad person” speech might be appropriate here, but I haven’t been around third graders enough to know whether they’re sophisticated enough to make that distinction.
I remember in third grade, the teacher actually POLLED the class and asked us who our parents planned to vote for in the upcoming election. (!) This was 1984, so it was Reagan vs. Mondale, if memory serves. Not a good year for Democrats.
Our classroom (it was a private, non-religious school in Texas) happily volunteered that 21 out of 22 students had parents that planned on voting for Reagan. The other kid (Also the token Jew in our class) was immediately given plenty of crap from the rest of the kids. (“Eww! A democrat! Where’s the cootie spray!”) and I could tell that the teacher surely knew that she’d made a judgment error by asking.
The is the same teacher that matter-of-factly polled the class as to our living arrangements on the first day of school. Did we have two parents, still married? Divorced parents? Remarried? Being raised by grandparents? Adopted? We were asked to stand up when the teacher called out OUR particular situation. I was the only kid still seated after she finished, and she rounded in to ask me which category I felt into. I replied that my mom was a widow, my father had died the previous year. EVERY head swiveled in my direction and a dozen little “I’m sorry.” whispers from my classmates. I wanted to kill that teacher for making me look pitiful. Always hated that teacher, although in retrospect I don’t think she MEANT badly. She was just had bad judgment on what was appropriate for sharing.
Yea, so don’t be THAT teacher! But honestly, I think your response to the “bad guy Republican” question was spot-on. It’s a tricky situation, but it sounds like you’re doing well so far.
If one of my kids teachers said this in a classroom, I’d be on the phone immediately with the principal. And I’m rather laid back about this kind of stuff.
This is just a simplistic way of electioneering a classroom. You can’t possibly believe this is non partisan.
You could point out that despite the seemingly huge differences in political opinions, both parties are committed to preserving and protecting the country. They don’t always agree on how to go about it, and our Constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms of speech and press make it possible for differing viewpoints to be heard so that voters can decide for themselves.
The world is a scary place, and I think it’s good for kids that age to hear about stability and common goals. There’s a Presidential election every four years. The country has endured for over 200 years.
I’ve read it twice–how is it partisan? I’m not seeing it.
In fact, it’s not too far from what I told my students. Part of our work so far has been to discuss what services government provides, and to talk about how they’re paid for (i.e., through taxes–I showed them the tax section of my own paycheck, and a receipt from Bojangles, to show that taxes are very real concerns). When kids were making their posters of government services, some kids put things like “food bank” and “church” on the poster; one of the things that came out of that discussion, very off-the-cuff, was that one very general difference between the two parties is that Democrats tend to think that lots of services are best provided by the government, whereas Republicans tend to think that lots of services are best provided by businesses, churches, and other organizations.
I thought it was a pretty nonpartisan explanation, but now you’ve got me worried :).
You want to be a little careful about not over-correcting: I had a co-worker who was teaching government and the kids in my room were complaining about what a -Republican she was–which was hysterical to me, because she was one of the most stridently liberal people on the campus.
One thing you might point out is that political parties are not sports teams: you don’t have to pick a side and support that side all the time in all ways. Lots of people on both sides disagree with much of their party’s platform, but the nature of our system is that you have to pick the one you agree with overall. You might bring in a sample ballot and show them how one votes for lots of different people, not just the President and not just a party.
Also, polling stations are not betting parlors, and the idea is not to vote for the side you think will win. Very, very common misconception among children (and some adults, for that matter.)
I’d be wary of making too much of the upcoming real life elections. Most of my teachers took the safer route and has us hold our own elections for classroom issues. We elected representatives who ran on platforms like, “Lunch should be after recess!” or “Every Friday a Pizza Party!” and then we watched them struggle to figure out how to negotiate the first with the principal or the fund the second. That was probably the best lesson I’ve ever gotten in the actual political process - find out not just what the guy is promising, but how he intends to deliver.
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I’ve read it twice–how is it partisan? I’m not seeing it.