I realize you might have missed this, but we're in the middle of a political election season. I know it's been under the radar, but you might have heard something about it. [#sarcasm] Our students hear about politics all the time, whether or not their parents are politically involved. And they bring it to school with them. A few days ago I was observing a sixth grade English grammar class, and the students were to write creative sentences with their vocabulary words. One boy managed to make every one of his sentences about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. (Sabotage: "Donald Trump sabotaged Hillary Clinton's campaign." Cumulative: "Donald Trump had a larger cumulative total of votes than Hillary Clinton." And so on.)
So how do we address politics during this election season? Do we just ignore it, because it's not in our scope and sequence? Do we hand out campaign posters for Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders and ask our children to put them up in their yards? Let me give some thoughts on this.
First, I don't believe we (teachers, administrators) should be promoting any one particular candidate to the class as a whole. I shouldn't hang Ted Cruz banners in the class, nor should I spend class time telling students why I support Cruz. That may very well put us on opposite sides of the issue from some of their parents, and could cause tension in the child's mind. "Dr. Kirby likes Ted Cruz, so Daddy and Mommy are wrong for liking Donald Trump." Children are generally not able to sort out disagreements like that, and end up seeing one person as the "bad guy" and the other as the "good guy." (Never mind that our politicians often do the same thing!) We simply don't need to introduce that type of conflict to our children.
Second, however, I don't believe we should just ignore the topic. On a personal level, I don't mind telling students that I support Cruz. But I will explain that differently, based on the age of the child. For young children (elementary), if a child personally asked me who I'm going to vote for, I might say something like, "I want to vote for someone who will lead our country to be faithful to God. Right now, I think that's probably Ted Cruz. But, you know what? There are a lot of Christians who believe something different - maybe your own parents! You should ask them who the best candidate is."
If the child is older, especially in high school, I would probably go into more detail about why I support Ted Cruz. But in all cases I need to carefully avoid casting aspersions on those who disagree. I can give positive reasons for my support of Cruz, but I'm not going to tell a student, "I think those who support Trump are looney-heads, and anyone who likes Sanders must be brain-dead." We don't need to go into the same gutter the candidates themselves are in!
Third, and most importantly, I think we should teach our students the principles we follow when we vote. What is the Biblical teaching about the civil government? What type of person should be in office? How do we wrestle with the realities of imperfect candidates, since none of them will ever be completely in line with what we believe Scripture to teach? How do we view political strategy? ("Support candidate X even though candidate A is better, because that's the only way to stop candidate Y from winning, and candidate Y will certainly lose to candidate Z, and candidate Z is absolutely horrible.") Of course, all this will need to be tailored to the age of the student.
You see, I think it is important that our students, as they progress through the grades, learn that there is often not a clear-cut black-and-white answer in many of these issues. No candidate will ever be perfect, so we will always have to make judgment calls about which issues are more important to us than others, and which stances taken by a candidate can be overlooked. Different Christians - sincere, Bible-believing Christians - are going to come to different conclusions on these issues, and our students need to learn that taking a different stand on a political candidate doesn't mean the other person has denied the faith. I can support Ted Cruz, and I disagree with those who support Donald Trump, but I don't believe someone has committed apostasy by supporting Trump. Our students, however, like for things to be very black-and-white. In their view, if John disagrees with Jim about the presidential candidates, then John must think Jim is going to hell, and John hates Jim. That's just not the case, and we need to help our students understand that.
It would be helpful to take time and have students do some research (getting beyond the sound-bites) and learn about the different candidates. Maybe there could be a debate on the issues. Have one group support Cruz, another group support Trump, another group support Clinton. Then set up a debate time - not like the TV debates, though. Make it a genuine, formal debate on the issues, with each group finding out about their own candidate along with the other candidates (so they can argue against them). And require that each group include references to Scripture. How does Trump's view on immigration line up with the Bible? How do Clinton's policies on wealth fit with Scripture?
And we can discuss with our students how Scripture impacts the political process itself. What should we say about candidates who twist their opponent's words? How about campaign promises? Or campaign finance laws? Our students should be helped to think through all these issues within a Biblical worldview.
We need to teach our students that the Word of God has bearing on every aspect of our lives, including political elections. And most of all they need to learn that we must not place our hopes on any one political candidate, but must continually trust in the King who has been set on the Throne of heaven, and who rules all the nations (Psalm 2; Matthew 28:18-20). His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and He will never be overthrown. Hallelujah!
So how do we address politics during this election season? Do we just ignore it, because it's not in our scope and sequence? Do we hand out campaign posters for Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders and ask our children to put them up in their yards? Let me give some thoughts on this.
First, I don't believe we (teachers, administrators) should be promoting any one particular candidate to the class as a whole. I shouldn't hang Ted Cruz banners in the class, nor should I spend class time telling students why I support Cruz. That may very well put us on opposite sides of the issue from some of their parents, and could cause tension in the child's mind. "Dr. Kirby likes Ted Cruz, so Daddy and Mommy are wrong for liking Donald Trump." Children are generally not able to sort out disagreements like that, and end up seeing one person as the "bad guy" and the other as the "good guy." (Never mind that our politicians often do the same thing!) We simply don't need to introduce that type of conflict to our children.
Second, however, I don't believe we should just ignore the topic. On a personal level, I don't mind telling students that I support Cruz. But I will explain that differently, based on the age of the child. For young children (elementary), if a child personally asked me who I'm going to vote for, I might say something like, "I want to vote for someone who will lead our country to be faithful to God. Right now, I think that's probably Ted Cruz. But, you know what? There are a lot of Christians who believe something different - maybe your own parents! You should ask them who the best candidate is."
If the child is older, especially in high school, I would probably go into more detail about why I support Ted Cruz. But in all cases I need to carefully avoid casting aspersions on those who disagree. I can give positive reasons for my support of Cruz, but I'm not going to tell a student, "I think those who support Trump are looney-heads, and anyone who likes Sanders must be brain-dead." We don't need to go into the same gutter the candidates themselves are in!
Third, and most importantly, I think we should teach our students the principles we follow when we vote. What is the Biblical teaching about the civil government? What type of person should be in office? How do we wrestle with the realities of imperfect candidates, since none of them will ever be completely in line with what we believe Scripture to teach? How do we view political strategy? ("Support candidate X even though candidate A is better, because that's the only way to stop candidate Y from winning, and candidate Y will certainly lose to candidate Z, and candidate Z is absolutely horrible.") Of course, all this will need to be tailored to the age of the student.
You see, I think it is important that our students, as they progress through the grades, learn that there is often not a clear-cut black-and-white answer in many of these issues. No candidate will ever be perfect, so we will always have to make judgment calls about which issues are more important to us than others, and which stances taken by a candidate can be overlooked. Different Christians - sincere, Bible-believing Christians - are going to come to different conclusions on these issues, and our students need to learn that taking a different stand on a political candidate doesn't mean the other person has denied the faith. I can support Ted Cruz, and I disagree with those who support Donald Trump, but I don't believe someone has committed apostasy by supporting Trump. Our students, however, like for things to be very black-and-white. In their view, if John disagrees with Jim about the presidential candidates, then John must think Jim is going to hell, and John hates Jim. That's just not the case, and we need to help our students understand that.
It would be helpful to take time and have students do some research (getting beyond the sound-bites) and learn about the different candidates. Maybe there could be a debate on the issues. Have one group support Cruz, another group support Trump, another group support Clinton. Then set up a debate time - not like the TV debates, though. Make it a genuine, formal debate on the issues, with each group finding out about their own candidate along with the other candidates (so they can argue against them). And require that each group include references to Scripture. How does Trump's view on immigration line up with the Bible? How do Clinton's policies on wealth fit with Scripture?
And we can discuss with our students how Scripture impacts the political process itself. What should we say about candidates who twist their opponent's words? How about campaign promises? Or campaign finance laws? Our students should be helped to think through all these issues within a Biblical worldview.
We need to teach our students that the Word of God has bearing on every aspect of our lives, including political elections. And most of all they need to learn that we must not place our hopes on any one political candidate, but must continually trust in the King who has been set on the Throne of heaven, and who rules all the nations (Psalm 2; Matthew 28:18-20). His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and He will never be overthrown. Hallelujah!