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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Sunday, June 8, 2008
Kids and politics: A learning experience
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
John McCain
A presidential race is always interesting, and it offers a great chance to teach kids about American democracy, our electoral process and the issues that face our nation. To me, this is an opportunity to invite kids into adult conversations about where our country is headed.
And sometimes we learn something, too.
Back in the fall, I had started getting questions from my three daughters about the presidential race as it began to heat up. So one weekend afternoon I sat them down and started to explain how a presidential election works and who the candidates were. Eventually, I went through the candidates one-by-one, explaining where they were from and what their issues were.
When I got to Hillary Clinton, my oldest daughter — age 9 — stopped me in the middle of my verbal profile with a question: “Has a woman ever been president?” When I told her no, she stated emphatically, “Then I’m for Hillary. It’s time for a woman to be president.”
Frankly, I thought she was being a bit rash making her mind up that way and that quickly. I suggested she might want to learn more about Clinton and what she believes in first. But she was sold and before long, she had brought along her two younger sisters.
I didn’t worry too much about this at first. In fact, I wasn’t much older when volunteered on John Anderson’s campaign for president as a boy. I was naive, idealistic and didn’t understand the bigger picture issues of that race, but I still learned a lot from the experience of rooting for a candidate for president.
As the primary process went along and the race against Barack Obama grew more heated, my daughter became more virulent in supporting her candidate, even wearing an “I-heart-Hillary” button on her backpack. As the Ohio primary neared, the question was coming up a lot — was I going to vote for Hillary? There were four candidates left in the race — Clinton, Obama, John McCain and Mike Huckabee — and I was undecided.
The day before the primary, I sat the kids down. They were all excited about Ohio’s big place in the race and I felt I owed them an explanation about how I had made up my mind. So I broke the news to them — for a variety of reasons, I was not going to vote for Hillary.
The three of them were, well, crushed. The youngest, the five year old, actually burst into tears. This is when I realized what this all really meant to them. It wasn’t about the politics or the issues or the parties. When you’re a young girl growing up in a country that has never elected a woman president, the possibility of a woman winning the job is an intoxicating idea. A Hillary win would have meant they, too, could dare to dream to chose a path some day that others might think is crazy for a woman to try.
And the three of them just could not believe that, as the father of three girls, I wasn’t going to vote for the “girl president.”
I think they’ve forgiven me now. We’ve had long discussions about my reasons and our differing views on this year’s presidential race. My oldest daughter sat with me and watched Obama claim victory in the Democratic race last week. She was a little sad but she remains interested in the fall campaign.
Today, I finally got around to watching Hillary’s farewell speech. In it, she spoke to the hopes and dreams of girls and women — young and old — who supported her campaign, including some senior citizens who can remember a time when women were not permitted to vote.
I had to admit it was an inspiring and at times moving speech.
Overall, I think this election is an especially good lesson for young people in general. It has already shown that you can be a serious candidate for president of the United States even if you are a woman, an African American or a moderate in a conservative party.
And for some kids, those are life lessons that really matter.
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