At the end of the day, when Andrea Martin’s three children come home from Eastside Elementary, they want to talk politics.
The discussions about women’s rights, gun control and immigration laws have been spurred by the school’s mock election process, which has sought to educate students about the presidential candidates and the issues that are important in this election.
Before Tuesday’s mock election, teachers took different tactics in educating children about the issues that are important to this election. Some classes made diagrams to compare and contrast the candidates’ political views. Others hosted debates or wrote essays about what issues they would tackle as president.
Members of the student council organized, set up and helped facilitate voters during the mock election.
Meg Bartlett works with the student council and is a special education teacher at Eastside. Bartlett helped the 20 members of the student council prepare for the election in a number of ways, including having students complete a voter registration card and design and make their own poll booth, crafted from cardboard, red paper and, to add some sparkle, a little silver glitter.
As each ballot was dropped into a bright red box, students received a sticker that read, “I voted.”
For Bartlett, hosting a mock election presented the opportunity to teach students about the importance of democracy.
“We were mainly trying to teach civic duty,” Bartlett said. “And you know, how we get a voice when we vote.”
Seventh grader Marika Ruppart helped kindergarteners cast their ballots. Ruppart said she joined student council because she wanted students to have more of a say on important school issues. Ruppart helped at the polls because she said she wanted to help them express their voice.
“I love helping and interacting with the little kids,” Ruppart said. “They have their own opinion.”
The youngest of the voters, the kindergarteners, could hardly keep these opinions to themselves, though teachers told them they did not have to share with their classmates who they were voting for.
Zosha Olivia, a kindergartener in Bonnie Prenkert’s class, said she cast her vote for Donald Trump.
“I think he is better,” Olivia said.
Other students expressed their support of the Republican candidate, one of which was seventh grader and student council member Stuart Lundberg. Lundberg said he was inspired by Tump’s campaign to “Make America Great Again.” Lundberg said he has always been interested in politics and wants to grow up to be a politician. However, he said he needs to work on his teamwork skills and being a member of student council has helped him improve this skillset while providing a good learning opportunity.
As for Martin’s three children, seventh grader Ainsley, sixth grader Aiden and third grader Landon, who attend Eastside, the friendly debates the family had included talking about women’s rights and how Trump’s comments were derogatory to women.
“My son needs to know how to treat women,” Martin said.
Martin also said the family hosts a foreign exchange student from Mexico. The family talked to the student about addressing racial stereotypes.
Some of these topics her children hadn’t known about before the mock election and it has spurred the chance for the family to talk about the issues and do research together.
“There have been no close ended discussions,” Martin said. “I can say, ‘Should we do more research on that?’”
When Martin heard about the mock election, she said she was glad students would get to see the process in action.
In addition, she said when children learn about the importance of voting, they want to hold parents accountable for making their voice heard at the polls.
“This is the encouragement some parents will need to make sure that they get out and vote,” Martin said.