Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Politically or Racially-Aware I believe in democracy. As a high school social sciences teacher, I strongly believe in democratic education and political awareness. I want my students to be aware of what is going on around them locally, nationally, and internationally. I require my students to keep up with news. Everything they learn from newspapers, magazines, and television becomes substance to use in my lessons. Before the presidential elections, I asked my students to watch all the debates, try to see the different perspectives, and how those perspectives may lead to different courses of action and to different implications for people. As part of this effort, I gave students a "persuasive writing" assignment. I gave them a list of topics from the debates, such as abortion, healthcare, affirmative action, and foreign policy. Students were to take a position on one of these issues and write a persuasive essay. When it was time for students to share their writings in class, things got out of hand. Every single topic we discussed along with the essays turned into a discussion of race. My Black and White students took opposite perspectives on every issue and during the discussions, they were not civil. I felt like my efforts for democratic education were not producing anything good. Should I change my activities? How come the political awareness I wanted develop in my students actually turned out to be racial awareness? Some guidance please! Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) The assignment created by the teacher is a wonderful way for students to explore and learn about the political process. I recommend that the teacher create rubrics for the persuasive writing assignment and the class discussion. The teacher should introduce the assignment by explaining that politics is a heated topic in which many people have strong feelings. To ensure that all students feel comfortable in sharing their views ground rules for the discussion/debate should be laid out in advance. The teacher should provide examples of appropriate and inappropriate behavior during the discussion. Using the rubric penalties for inappropriate conduct would be clearly identified. The teacher should go on to explain that each person has a right to their views. Students should come to the debate with prepared supporting evidence of those views to share. The debate is not a personal attack on an individual or cultural group represented in the classroom. It is a discussion to help students understand the views, feelings and opinions of each other. Doing so would create an environment of respectful tolerance. By teaching children how to respectfully, openly discuss political and racial topics the students will be better prepared for the voting process as adults.