I am currently in Washington presenting and learning at the 2012National Forum on Character Education. I’ve attended wonderful breakout
sessions, heard amazing keynote speakers, met passionate and committed
educators from all over the world and recurring themes seem to be honesty, integrity,
and service. With the Capitol building in sight and presidential campaigns
reaching their peak, it is refreshing to be reminded of these notions.
As an aspiring citizen I am not yet able to vote, but I have been
trying to follow along and learn about the process in the hope that one day I
can also participate in the electoral process. After being bombarded for weeks
with contradictory T.V advertisements, literature, phone calls and newspaper articles
I am beginning to understand what a huge responsibility it truly is. Before
casting a vote one must put forth great effort trying to uncover the truth
about candidates, proposals, platforms, and policies. I’ve realized that if I
want to become a responsible voting citizen, I need to develop a whole new set
of skills. I need to take a class on political literacy. It makes me consider
the role educators have to play in creating a politically literate society.
My 5th and 6th Grade L.A and Social Studies colleagues
at BCS do a phenomenal job of helping students prepare for their civic
responsibilities, spending weeks hosting an election simulation. Students are
invited to apply for various roles that make up a campaign committee: candidate,
campaign manager, publicity manager and speech writer. They are designated a
political party which they diligently research, learning about the history of
the party, political philosophy and where the party stands on key issues before
they launch a full blown campaign.
The student candidate studies and adopts realistic qualities and
attributes of the party candidate. The speech writers research major issues,
write speeches, and assist on writing media presentations. Publicity managers
oversee the development of media presentations such as websites, flyers and
posters. The campaign managers organize the schedules, set daily agendas,
oversee completion of tasks, and assist in developing all campaign materials.
There has been a definite shift in the atmosphere in school in the last few
weeks as students have been becoming more involved in the election process. It’s
been fun to overhear their conversations in the hallways about the various candidates
and their positions. Locker bays have become debating stations and the bathrooms
places to lobby. I can only imagine the dinner table conversations that have may
have taken place in homes where students were designated to a political party
that their parents may not support!
On Election Day students show up in suits and formal wear and it is
wonderful to see how seriously they approach the big day. The speeches I have
heard student candidates make in the last few days have made more sense to me than
any other political ponderings I have been subjected to. Credit must be given
to the whole campaign committee and in turn, their teachers for helping these
students do something that I have found impossible to do: they have managed to
get beyond the massaged facts, the inflated figures, the unsubstantiated
contradictory claims and made some sense of a confusing political landscape. I
wonder how many adult voters will be able to do the same next Tuesday.
Standing at my hotel window,Washington, D.C. lies ahead of me
and the CEP Conference behind me. I can only hope
that what lies ahead shares a similar mission to what lies behind: providing the
vision, leadership and resources for schools, families and communities to
develop ethical citizens committed to building a just and caring world. I am
off to enjoy my last few sessions at the Conference which is appropriately
titled, Developing Leaders of Integrity.