In the light of current national events, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently made a call for strengthening civics education. She made the statement as she announced her struggle with Alzheimer’s disease and planned withdrawal from public life. “It is my great hope that our nation will commit to educating our youth…
Details“We don’t have to wait any longer. We know what we’re doing isn’t working.” That’s a quote from David Arsen, MSU education policy professor and lead author of a new report on education funding in Michigan. This research drives the point home: “Michigan schools face nation’s worst decline in state education funding,” read the headline…
DetailsMEA member Chad Downs almost left the field of education before he started. During his pre-student teaching at Eastern Michigan University, Downs said he couldn’t find a school or program that fit with his beliefs about education and creativity. Then an EMU advisor intervened and introduced him to Ann Arbor Open School, and the rest…
DetailsEvery other Wednesday a group of silver-haired men sit around some pushed-together tables in a Brighton diner for breakfast and companionship, and their talk inevitably turns to the state of public education. They can’t help themselves. This gathering of more than a dozen regulars typically includes six former presidents of the Huron Valley Education Association…
DetailsAre there political divisions or tribes at your school? Although our area of Northern Michigan is relatively conservative, divisions do not come through strongly at Cherryland Middle School in a normal election cycle. I’m not sure anyone would call the 2016 Presidential election normal, though. During the summer and fall of 2016, it was the…
DetailsAre there political divisions or tribes at your school? There is definitely a mixture of political views. In the 2016 mock election at Traverse City West Senior High School, Hillary Clinton won by 1 vote out of approximately 500 votes cast. So the school is pretty evenly divided. What does student political involvement look like?…
DetailsWhat do you do to interest students in how government works? Students at my school—like other Michigan Merit Curriculum schools—are required to pass a government class to graduate. Having a captive audience, however, is not enough. I try to engage students in a variety of ways. I move the desks at least twice a week;…
DetailsWhat current events/arguments/court cases have you used to draw students into deeper learning and debate? I try to spend about 20 minutes per hour of AP Government every day to discuss current events to interest students in government. Students need to answer daily written warmup questions to show their opinions and knowledge about different topics.…
DetailsWhat does political interest/involvement among students look like where you are? I have seen many of our students volunteer time working on local, state, and national political campaigns. Recently, one of my students was on the campaign for newly elected U.S. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. Also our students work the voting stations for each election in…
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