Politics and Teaching

When I was teaching social studies at Hilton Head Island High school a few years ago we had two teachers in the department who constantly argued politics. One of these teachers was about as Republican as you can get. He constantly attacked Bill Clinton and then praised George W. Bush constantly. Another teacher who we will call Bob, would constantly counter and talk about what "those Republicans are doing." We all thought Bob was a poster boy for the Democratic Party. During the 2002 election I was tasked with lining up speakers for our school's election debate. The lady at the Democratic Campaign Headquarters I talked with floored me when she asked me how "that Republican" Bob was doing? My reply was, "you're kidding right?" The Democrat told me she knew Bob for many years and he was always a big Republican supporter. When I relayed the story to Bob he admitted the woman was correct. He then added, "but my personal politics does not belong in the classroom."

A blog post by Marc Lampkin reminded me of the above story. Bob further explained his job was to teach students to investigate the issues for themselves and play devil's advocate to get those students to back up their opinions with facts. Mr. Lampkin reminded me of a story of a New York teachers' union who sued to be allowed to wear campaign buttons after the school district forbid them. The blog post goes on a anti-teachers' union rant but the fact teachers wanted to campaign for one candidate or another disturbed me.

Parents send us their children to be educated not indoctrinated. They should be taught to find facts and determine what they believe is best for themselves. I have my personal political beliefs and I support one presidential candidate over another because after reviewing what both candidates' stances on issues important to me I have made my decision. I even wear campaign items, outside of school. However, once I step on school grounds, the stuff comes off and I am more non-partisan than reporters pretend to be. Last week I assisted with our school's mock election and was thrilled to do it. Once the students started voting, I was having as much fun watching the results come in as I will on November 4th. We even had Bulldog Barks video updates periodically posted on YouTube and a local newspaper's blog. It was all non-partisan and neutral. Hopefully, the kids had fun exploring the issues, debating who was better, and voting for the candidates of their choice. All under the watchful eyes of teachers who remain politically neutral.

For those of you who support Barack Obama or John McCain and believe the country will crash and burn if the other candidate wins, go ahead and knock yourself out showing your support. Show your support until you come to school, then teach the impressionable young minds to make their own informed decisions after looking at ALL of the issues from both sides equally.

I'm Joe the Student: Learning from The YouTube Election

Presidential campaigns have a way of defining changes in media. Franklin Roosevelt made effective use of the radio in his election bid in 1932. Richard Nixon was the first politician to use television to speak directly to voters in 1952. John F. Kennedy showed that preparing for the characteristics of television helped him during the televised debates in 1960. Bloggers pretty much decided the election in 2004. In 2008 it will be the use of YouTube or citizen generated media that has made inroads and I expect 2012 will see its effective use by a candidate.

Both campaigns used YouTube to post campaign commercials. John McCain may have started the rewriting of Fair Use policy when some of his posts from news shows were taken down after networks complained of copyright infringement. CNN and YouTube collaborated on having people video questions for Republican and Democratic candidates during the primaries. Now YouTube, PBS, and GroundReport are teaming up for Video Your Vote which encourages people to video their experiences during the voting process and are giving away Flip camcorders to make it happen. Yet the biggest surprise is how many people picked up a video camcorder of some kind and shot video that made some kind of statement for one candidate or the other because they wanted to. I receive information e-mails from both the Obama and McCain campaigns (I should disclose that my sister is a county chairwomen for John McCain) and while most of the e-mails are asking for money (which Obama can stop because he can't possibly spend $300 million between now and election day) the McCain campaign surprised me with a call for "I am Joe the Plumber" videos.

The thing for teachers to learn from this is that people are finding new ways to communicate that are easy and cheap to do. I could write, shoot, and edit a campaign commercial for either candidate with a $100 to $150 camcorder that would look decent then upload it on YouTube. All this exercise in democracy would cost next to nothing but time. Take a look at what individuals have created on their own by surfing the campaign videos on YouTube. Think about how you can tap into that creative energy with your students. See if you can't create your own "Joe the Student" video that could change the course of history as much as "Joe the Plumber" might in this election.

No Child Left Behind Left Behind

Click on the following links to view the rest of Senator McCain's speech: Part 2, Part 3

In a November 2, 2007 article about the No Child Left Behind law, US News and World Report writer Eddy Ramirez wrote the law was "expected to be one of the most contentious debates of the political year...But as the calendar ticks into November, little has been heard since early summer...." I went to a meet and greet for Republican Presidential hopeful John McCain in Hilton Head Island recently. Here are the topics Senator McCain covered during his half hour stop: the war in Iraq (we are winning but the Democrats want to surrender), illegal immigration (backed off the amnesty program because we need to secure the borders first), Social Security (lady had a good idea and he would study it), beating Hillary Clinton (I guess she won the Democratic nomination but she is a liberal who voted to cut funds from the troops in Iraq), Iran is evil (Iranians are transporting powerful bombs that kill American soldiers), cutting back on pork barrel spending (drunken sailors don't like to be compared to Congress), health care (our system is the best in the world and government would mess it up, just look at Canada), and claimed to be the only conservative Republican running who has experience in national security affairs (invoked Ronald Reagan's City on a Hill). Other topics included not letting soldiers die in vain, close the Guantanamo prison for Enemy Combatants and send the occupants to Fort Leavenworth, forbid the use of torture because it is immoral and it could be used on American soldiers in future wars (McCain should know).

The one topic that was not covered was education, No Child Left behind in particular. In the Republican debate in Orlando, Florida (October 21, 2007), only Fred Thompson was asked if No Child Left Behind was it a mistake? Rudy Giuliani danced around the issue before finally saying parents should enforce the standards. No other candidates were even challenged. It is mid-November and No Child Left behind is supposed to be reauthorized before the end of the year. While our country faces serious challenges the the next president must face, education must be one of these challenges. Our economy is changing from an industrial to an information based economy. The War on Terror is a new type of war that will require new tactics and weapons that have probably never been thought of before 9/11. Attention to education will be very important if the United States is to continue leading the world.

Please let me know what you feel Presidential candidates should do about No Child Left Behind or education in general.