It’s not just voters who will tune in for election night. A civically-minded class of ninth graders at West Jordan Middle School is likely to be glued to the results with the rest of us. They’re not old enough to vote, but they’ve gotten a full introduction this semester to the country's election process.
On Halloween, teacher William Shields started his “American Institutions and Issues” class with a couple of writing prompts: What are some ways to increase voter turnout? Do you think Utah’s voting age for local races should be lowered to 16?
“What about the 26th Amendment?” one student quickly and enthusiastically asked, pointing to the constitutionally set voting age of 18.
“That’s a great point,” Shields responded and clarified that’s why they’re talking about Utah and not federal races.
Earlier in the semester, the class focused on the founding documents, like the U.S. Constitution. Then they moved into application and contemporary issues. There are a lot of current examples to pull from. Students come to class with questions about claims they’ve seen on social media, campaign ads on TV and what they’ve heard from adults.
“The students drive the conversation. ‘Hey, Mr. Shields, I heard this in the news. Does this tie to that?’ And it's awesome,” he said. “And I love the students to bring that because then that shows that they're actually making those connections.”
It’s been a contentious and close election, and Shields worried that tension could bleed into his class. But he described the classroom discussions with 14- and 15-year-olds about the election and democracy as “refreshing.”
“Our students are so much more civil than we give them credit for,” Shields said.
Students have worn political clothing to class or hashed out disagreements based on principles. And while they debated and asked questions, Shields said it’s never devolved into verbal attacks.
Shields attributed that to telling students at the start of the year that it’s OK to disagree and to ground their discussions in facts.
Even as they talked about lowering the voting age, some students passionately disagreed. Some thought students should get a say in their local school board. Others didn’t think their peers were ready for that responsibility. Shields reminded them, again, that disagreeing was OK.
“I have seen such a great modeling of consensus and civic dialog in eighth and ninth grade that I sincerely wish spread throughout our society,” Shields said.
When one of the students asked Shields what he thought, he responded, “it’s not my job to share my opinion. It’s my job to educate.”
Another lesson took Shields’ class on a field trip to the Utah State Capitol and the Salt Lake County Clerk’s Office. He said the kids wanted to see how the physical voting process works. The students even asked Clerk Lannie Chapman about the ballot drop boxes recently set on fire in Oregon and Washington.
“It is so great to have the students see that, like, the government's not over there, the government is here,” Shields said. “And they are an active part of it.”
The election has funneled more energy into his class. He’s noticed a heightened desire to learn more about the political system. Students want to jump ahead in the lesson plan and come to class with questions like “How does campaign financing work?” or “What’s a political action committee?”
These students were in fifth grade the last time there was a presidential election. For the next one, they’ll be able to vote. A student named Eli, along with several of his classmates, said he’s excited to vote when he’s old enough. To him, learning about this election has felt “empowering.”
While it may seem simple on the surface, a student named Abigaile said this class made her realize how complex elections are.
“When you really dig deep into it, there's so much more about the elections that people don't really realize unless you actually sit there and you take time to learn about it,” she said. “It's been really fun to learn about it.”
By fact-checking claims in the class, another student, Lennox, said he learned that sometimes politicians don’t tell the truth.
“I think it's kind of interesting that the presidents can say things that aren't necessarily true to try and win over people's votes,” he said, “because I kind of thought that's kind of a little scummy for someone that's trying to be president and kind of make choices for our country to be lying.”
Several students said what they learned sparked conversations at the dinner table with their families. Shields is happy to hear how they have connected with their communities over what they’ve learned.
He hopes students take away not only skills, like research and the ability to disagree, but also the knowledge “that voting is very important, not just who you vote for but why you vote.”
“I consider it almost a sacred civic responsibility of teaching someone about the importance of elections,” Shields said.
