Most students at Guadalupe Centers Charter High School aren’t old enough to vote yet, but they know what’s on the ballot better than many people headed to the polls.
Over the last several weeks, they’ve reviewed different races, candidates and ballot initiatives ahead of the November 5 election. On Election Day, students will head into makeshift polling booths and cast their own ballot as part of a schoolwide mock election.
Greg Brenner, the high school’s American government teacher, said educators started planning their election curriculum at the very start of the school year.
“My goal is that students know more, that it's not just about the presidential election, that there's a lot more,” Brenner said. “Especially the Missouri ballot initiatives.”
Not all students have a social studies or government class this semester, so Brenner and social studies teacher Matt Buckles came up with a plan for students to learn about the election during their advisory period.
Each week, students focused on a specific topic or race. Teachers gave context on each issue and provided both sides’ arguments before opening it up to conversation.
Brenner and Buckles also handed out QR codes that let students scan to ask a social studies teacher questions, even if the teacher wasn't in their classroom.
Some students asked what happens if two candidates tie and other process-related questions, but many questioned why they need to learn about the election if they can’t vote yet.
“The impact is going to be felt by all whether you can vote or not,” Brenner said. “Just giving students the opportunity to discuss and learn about it is kind of the main idea, to at least be introduced to what's going on in these elections.”
Victor Espinoza, a sophomore, said he remembers reading about a lot of “good ones” — issues and candidates — leading up to the election. He said he also learned about the different perspectives people bring.
“Some people want this and that, but others don't probably agree with it,” Espinoza said.
Sophomore Manuel Salazar said he was interested in learning more about immigration and abortion. Both presidential candidates have highlighted immigration, and Missouri voters will decide this election whether to enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution.
Students were also interested in sports gambling and whether its legalization in Missouri would lead to more funding for schools, Brenner said, and how a potential minimum wage raise would impact the economy.
Salazar said abortion led to the most difficult conversations among his classmates, but they navigated tough discussions by listening to each other.
“We respond carefully, and we consider what we're going to speak about,” Salazar said. “Rather than interrupt, we just wait patiently and hear the other out and actually consider what they're talking about.”
Brenner said teachers give students the space to have conversations in the hope that they actually discuss the issues with each other. He fears that they read their class handouts and then take out their phones to scroll.
Many schools aren’t talking about the election
Most teachers didn’t plan to talk about the 2024 presidential election in their classrooms, according to a July EdWeek Research Center survey. About half said they would avoid talking about the election because it’s not related to the subject they teach.
Others worried teaching about the election “could lead to parent complaints,” or didn’t believe “students can discuss this topic with one another in a respectful manner.”
Brenner said he thinks teachers fear lessons about the election could be construed as leaning one way or another. That’s why he and Buckles worked with their administration on the project and also made sure the student worksheets they handed out, the campaign ads they watched and their overall lessons were balanced.
Buckles said the school has a large Latino population. Latinos make up one of the nation's fastest-growing ethnic groups, but register to vote at lower rates. He said it is important to inform Guadalupe’s students to help counteract that trend, and because of negative campaign rhetoric about Latinos.
“We don't want to sway kids one way or another,” Brenner said. “We want them to be informed and make their own decisions.”
Brenner said it’s challenging for teachers to remove their own thoughts and biases and let students have their own conversations and come to their own decisions. But Buckles said that’s part of the job of a social studies teacher.
“You're talking about hard things and getting kids to figure out what they think, and why, and defend their reasoning, like that's what we do in class every day,” Buckles said. “We're not going to shy away from it.”
Brenner said he and Buckles have already planned what they’ll teach after the election; and ways to explore how the results will impact students, their families and communities.
Both teachers also plan to hold an optional space in the school’s cafeteria for students to share any emotions about the election results. They’ll watch the news and answer students’ questions.
Salazar, one of the sophomores, said he likes to share what he’s learned with his mom on the way home from school and ask what she thinks about it.
Espinoza, the other sophomore, said he takes his handouts home so his parents can read them. Neither student can vote this year, but Espinoza said the lessons helped him to prepare and know more about the voting process.
Salazar thinks more schools should teach about politics.
“If you don't prepare someone, then they're really never going to be ready for the future,” Salazar said.
