Making a choice

By MARY RAINWATER
The Palestine Herald

ELKHART October 11, 2008 01:40 am

— While Americans are preparing for the upcoming presidential election next month, students in Elkhart Middle School teacher Kim Stanaland’s eighth-grade English classes were experiencing the electoral process hands on.
Through a voter education program called Project Vote, EMS eighth graders have researched, campaigned, debated issues and registered to vote in preparation for the school’s mock election held Friday.
“At the beginning of the six weeks I asked the students to research any two candidates and to pick four ‘hot topics’ of debate,” Stanaland said Friday. “Students then wrote a paper telling how each candidate stood on those issues and, without revealing their choice, explain what deciding factor led them to choose their candidate.”
While the project itself was led by eighth-grade students, the entire campus was asked to participate by registering and then voting Friday. Students also attended a “debate” on Thursday.
During the debate, panels representing the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates were asked questions by student moderator Jordan White, and were to answer those questions based on research of their candidate.
“There were eight main issues the panels discussed, including the economy, tax cuts, war, abortion and health insurance,” White said. “I asked each team to talk about the issue.
“I learned a lot of things about both parties that I didn’t know before.”
Student Jenna Neel, who was part of the Republican panel, said she learned a lot about John McCain and his party through the research she conducted.
“McCain thinks abortion should be illegal, except in case of rape, incest or endangerment to the mother,” she said. “He wants to keep the troops in Iraq and to bring them home slowly — and thinks that doing that will make the war more successful.”
Most importantly, Neel explained, working on Project Vote allowed her to be able to pick the best candidate and to be more informed when she is legally able to vote.
“I now know where to look to research the candidates on the issues,” she said. “I have a better understanding of how it all works when I get to vote at 18.”
Luke Trim, who served on the debate’s Democratic panel, said he too learned much about Barak Obama and his party, as well as the voting system.
“Obama believes in health care for everyone and he wants to bring home our troops from Iraq quickly,” Trim said. “He also believes that our borders should be more secure than they are.
“I really learned a lot from doing this.”
Stanaland’s goal in teaching the Project Vote curriculum was not only to teach students about the voting process, but to have them be able to make decisions without relying on outside influences.
“I realize that most students will vote like their parents, but I encouraged them to decide for themselves,” she said. “To do that they had to decide what issues are most important to them and if they agree with the candidate on those issues.”
Stanaland reported that 205 students and teachers voted in Friday’s mock election, with John McCain defeating Barak Obama, 205-182. Independent candidate Bob Barr received five votes and Ron Paul received one vote.
Results of EMS’s election will be reported to www.projectvote.com and tallied with other participating schools. Project Vote results often align with actual results in November, Stanaland said.
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Mary Rainwater may be reached via e-mail at mrainwater@palestineherald.com

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