Civil Vegetables

Elections can be tricky. They provide wonderful teachable moments — but discussions about them can
also devolve quickly into personal attacks. It is hard for children to debate the actual candidates without getting very personal because many of their political views mirror parent views and therefor a criticism of their candidate is a criticism of their parents.

So what to do? Civics are too important to skip because they can be uncomfortable – indeed, I became a teacher because I believe democracy depends on an educated, critical electorate. A trip to a farmers' market provided inspiration: The United States of Gourd.

By giving the students gourds and creating an alternative but parallel world in which key events in U.S. history had been translated into "gourd speak" we created enough distance to be able to explore ideas more safely.

We recently learned about the history of the United States of Gourd
Download United States of
Gourd including the Revolutionary War where we broke free of tyrannical tendrils of Gourdland and King Gourd III and wrote the Constitution in which the three vines of government ensured that no one gourd got too much power.

Students have learned about the platforms of the two main political parties – the Free Gourds and the Poligourds. They've tackled issues such as domestic fertilzer policy and the right to bear pruing shears. Tax policy seems to be in the forefront of everyone's mind. Today students met the candidates for president — Ovifera Peponapsis the Free Gourd governor from Squashington and Crecentia Alata, the Poligourd leader of New Gourdland. We broke into caucuses to write questions for the debate which will occur next Thursday.

We hope you'll have fun with us (the punning possibilities are ripe). Here are the party platforms:
Download Gourd_parties_platforms. Please avoid pointing out to your child that the Poligourds are aligned with the Democratic positions and the Free Gourds are aligned with the Republicans. Maintaining the space between the real world and the gourd world will help promote more civil discourse and a more open discussion of issues. These are crucial skills to learn for students to become engaged, informed citizens. In fact, just today we had to stop the candidate introductions in order to urge students to rise above the cheers and jeers that were their first reaction to the candidates.

Please don't refrain from talking about "real" politics with your child. Even though these are complex issues, students can understand a surprising amount and can have really interesting ideas about leadership and government. I also really encourage you to take your child with you to the polls on election day. Voting with a parent is the single most important factor in determining whether a child will grow up into a voting adult.

If you'd like to vote in our election on November 6, find a gourd (there are extras in the Herons) and ask your child to bring home a voter registration form.

2 responses to “Civil Vegetables”

j hirsch

October 25, 2012

I love this! Thanks for doing it!

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Andrea

November 11, 2012

What a brilliant way to be engaged in such an emotionally charged world. If only I had known in time to do an absentee ballot or something. Thanks for sharing.

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