Helping students to be informed citizens in a global society

I’ve already heard the 2016 U.S. presidential election called “the biggest political story of our lifetimes” by more than one pundit in the past week. No doubt the events of the past seven days and of this whole presidential campaign will be talked about and have an impact for the foreseeable future. But for students in our schools, especially those in elementary and middle school like at ANCS, there will likely be another political story of their lifetimes many years down the road, one we must help prepare them for. One part of ANCS’s mission statement includes a call to “challenge students to take an active role as an informed citizen in a global society.” In the wake of this most recent presidential election and its aftermath, here are three ways I believe we can and must make good on that mission:

1) Help students develop the traits of empathy and kindness and the skill of engaging in productive dialogue: While still processing my (and others’) reaction to the outcome of the presidential election, I shared a message with our ANCS community that expressed my commitment to promoting kindness, love, and an embrace of differences as a counter to the widespread hate and intolerance that dominated much of the presidential campaign. I absolutely believe those traits are essential for living in a multicultural country and effectively engaging with the wider world. But I also believe we must teach our students how to have productive dialogue, especially with those with whom we may disagree. Sadly, modern media gives us little as a model for our students, with screaming or talking over one another being the most common forms of communication I usually saw in commentary during this recent campaign. If we cannot help our students to learn to talk with and consider the views of others, there’s little hope of us ever bridging the divisions that seem to be growing wider in our country every day, exacerbated by social media.

2) Teach students to be critical consumers of information: The debates. Social media. Newspapers and t.v. We were overwhelmed with information and perspectives and more during this campaign season. With so much to take in, it was easy to become fixated on whatever the last Facebook post you read about the election said, especially if it was from someone with the same opinion as yours. That makes it tough to be a truly “informed citizen”. Now more than ever we need to equip students with critical thinking skills that help them to analyze what a presidential candidate (or anyone) is trying to convince them of. But we also need to equip students with media literacy skills to detect bias and evaluate sources of information. The proliferation of pseudo-news or even fake news websites make it easy to be duped or misled on important issues.

3) Connect the present to the past: Yes, there has been much that is unprecedented about this presidential campaign and election. But knowing our country’s history can be useful to understanding how to respond to what we see and hear today. When an advisor to the new President calls for the creation of a system akin to the “House Un-American Activities Committee”, it’s important to know what that was, the context in which occurred, and how Americans of that era responded. And when people suddenly clamor for the end of the electoral college without necessarily knowing why it was created or how it exactly works, that’s troubling territory to be in. Making sure our students know how to look to the past for lessons for the present is imperative.

Helping students to be informed citizens in a global society

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