Teaching Civics in the Current Political/Social Climate

     One of the greatest content related challenges I have faced since becoming a teacher is having to teach a flat, unbiased, and apolitical viewpoint while discussing current events. However, I have allowed myself a certain amount of freedom, more than what has been generally permissible by my colleagues. The reason I feel that I can express more of my viewpoint rests in my recent voting record.
     I have never shied away from letting my students know who I have voted for in the elections I have taken part in. They know that I have voted for Rand Paul in a Republican primary because he was the most moderate/libertarian candidate on either ticket; up to that point I was a registered political independent.
     My students know that I, for the last two Presidential elections, voted for Gary Johnson--for those of my students who are politically inclined have done nothing by poke fun at this decision. In hindsight, I wish I had kept the receipt on those votes so that I could return them.
     I have made it a key element of my teaching that I will let me students know of my social liberalism and fiscal conservatism because it makes a great teaching moment for students who are not regularly around constructive political conversation. Several of these students are unintentionally misinformed of national politics (how many of us were well informed at 17?) and they have never had these types of conversations. Others are heavily influenced by their families, but don't exactly understand why they support the political ideals they do.
     If teachers and mentors are afraid to have constructive and open-minded conversations about politics, then we do a great disservice to our next generation of leaders. They will be informed by whoever can afford the most air time on television or who has the greater social media presence. I want these students to be able to evaluate where they are getting their information from. There's nothing inherently evil about CNN, Fox News, or any other major news outlet but if you take only one source at face value, you will be horribly misinformed and have a lopsided opinion. This is what I want my students to avoid at all costs.
     I have often toed the line when speaking of our current Chief Executive, but I owe it to my students to point out the successes and missteps so that they may apply what we talk about in class to the world around them. It doesn't matter what political party the President is leading or who is in power. I have been just as critical of our Democratic leaders as our Republican leaders and I have argued both sides of highly contested political issues like immigration, gun control, and abortion. It is important that as adults we model what civil discourse and respectful challenges look like.
     Each year my honors government students debate the moral and legal implications of abortion after weeks of personal research. It has become something that my students hear about before they get to my class and they are excited to take on when it comes in the late fall. It is a highlight of our year and something that brings out some of the best conversation in our class.
     What I would like people to take away from this post is that it is our charge and responsibility to have these tough conversations with our children and students. No one person should be left overwhelmed at the age of 18 when they finally have this awesome ability to vote in a national election and have no idea what they truly stand for. When your alone in the booth at the polling place, you have to reflect on what you believe instead of what galvanized individuals or media outlets are trying to sell you. In this age of instant consumerism and a constant back and forth of who is winning and who is losing, we have lost what it affect it has on the next generation of leaders.
     As a young parent and as a young teacher, I find it ever imperative that we make politics and political conversations a part of our students education. It's not a conversation of brain-washing or disparaging one side or the other. It's an issue of information; are our students being informed well enough of the situations that will affect their livelihood once they are a piece of the bigger world around them. It's a question that determines the existence of "lives, fortunes, and sacred honor". I hope we do it right, for the sake of those we teach.