The last time I taught US History was in spring 2017, and it was the shit. Trump had just won and as my readers know, I live and teach in deepest of blue blue lands. Thirty students who’d never really thought much about politics, assumed any Trump voters were evil, had been assured that Republicans hated immigrants and Mexicans, and had never once considered that Hillary might not be their next president. Even the most disengaged among them was ready to hear some explanations.
A couple days before school was out, I was talking to a young teacher. By “young”, I mean this Indian American had been in high school when Trump won. In fact, he’d been in my high school. He’d been a junior in my high school, the year I taught my last history class, and the only reason he hadn’t been in my class is that he took APUSH, like most Indian American kids in my district. (Yes. First I had to deal with colleague’s my son’s age, now I’m dealing with colleagues who were students during my only 15 year teaching career. Gack.) He graduated, went to an extremely selective public university and straight into ed school, getting credentials in English and history. I shall call him Vivek.
So in a passing hallway conversation, Vivek mentioned he’d be teaching Government and Econ the next year, and I was jazzed.
“I’d kill to teach that this year.”
“Yeah, but I’m teaching Econ first semester. It’d be fun to cover the election in real-time.”
“Oh, mix it up.”
“What? Like, not do the curriculum?”
“hahahahaha. Yeah, like not do the curriculum. It’s allowed. I’ve been remembering a lesson I did in US history that would be a fantastic starting point and you could update it. Start at 2016 and have the students go through and assign the winner. I had them do their best guess first, then look it up. Then do the same thing for 2020, and then the polls for 2024. That will bring home the notion of ‘swing state’.”
“Wow, that sounds great. Can we talk more about this? Meet up for coffee later on, after we’ve started to get bored from summer?”
By the time we met six weeks later, I’d spent an embarrassing amount of time mulling curriculum ideas, determined to get some vicarious joy out of seeing someone else implement them.
“OK, I want to start with a fundamental premise and I apologize if it offends you: to do this class right, you have to start by telling them the world won’t end if Trump wins. That in order to really learn and engage and hopefully have a hell of a lot of fun, they have to accept that either candidate might win and that accepting this isn’t some sort of betrayal. Because….”
Vivek was already nodding. “Yes! It is amazing that Trump won narrowly, lost narrowly, and is back and is from all appearances winning! They have to see that, even if they think he’s a villain. Look, our kids live in a blue bubble. I want them to really understand the issues that make every race lately a close one.”
“Oh, great! You’re a young pup, you can totally sell them on the idea that they’re living in an exciting moment in history, when people genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen. I see that as essential.”
“But I’m supposed to do Economics first semester, not Government.”
“There’s so much in this election about economics! Immigration affecting wages. Tariffs. Inflation. Supply chain problems in the pandemic.”
“Oh, my god, you’re right. Manufacturing, the chip shortage, China! I never thought of it that way. But how do I mix it up? I have to give them a grade, right?”
“Short answer: mix it up, tell the kids they are getting a grade each semester and what do they care? Longer answer: pick a day or three a week and do lessons from the Econ curriculum during first semester, Government during second.”
“I could also do intros in semester one and in-depth semester two.”
We mapped out some lessons:
- Start with my electoral college lesson updated to bring home the nature of our split electorate. Emphasize importance of geography, no one around here votes for Trump, but whole swathes of the country do. Possible assignment: find a Trump voter! Quiz on states–red, blue, swing.
- Tariffs: Go back all the way to Hamilton’s financial plan, discuss how tariffs provided the federal government with funds. Why not income tax? Look at Constitution to see what their powers are. Go through differences between tariffs and “direct taxes”, history of Revenue Act of 1861 and 16th Amendment. Then–“if we don’t need tariffs for income anymore, why use them?” “Back to economics. Protectionism. Manufacturing. China. Maybe some American Compass for pro and old school Heritage Foundation for con. Possible assignment: short essay on differences, or worksheet.
- Inflation–that will link straight to whatever text is used (useful in case of observations). Then look at the historical rate of inflation and go through a few of the different periods, putting the current rate in perspective. Possible assignment: quiz on inflationary periods and causes, examples of current products and price increases over time.
- Political parties: when did they start? Maybe go through political systems briefly. (surely we’ve moved towards the seventh by now). Should political parties control the candidate selection? Needs more work to flesh out–might be too much to do well.
- Election tracking: watch the polls, discuss the difference between national polls and swing state polls. Compare over time. Assignment: a class spreadsheet with pages for 2016, 2020, and 2024. Maybe introduce RCP and The Silver Report?
- Immigration and economics: the border appears to be playing a huge role in political support. How does education and economic opportunity play a role in this support? What differences exist between an economic view of immigration and its impact on US policy and the individual level? Assignment: not sure, maybe none.
- Key milestones in a campaign–primaries, primary debates, delegates, conventions, debates. We weren’t yet sure what assignments or how to do this yet, but given the change in debate timeline, followed by Biden’s disastrous debate, some context would be useful and interesting.
- Voting: Each student designs essay (or some other activity) on whether or not they’d vote. Include eligibility (citizenship, age), but regardless, what would they do? Find examples of people who actively refuse to vote. Final project of some sort.
So we met July 9th, I think? Such a long, long time ago. Here’s some ideas I’ve texted him since:
- 25th amendment!!! Wooohoo!
- Branches of government: Nancy Pelosi and the heads of the legislative branch seemed to play a large role in persuading/forcing the President to step down from his re-election campaign. Is this a constitutional issue, or a political party issue? How do they conflict?
- Amend the election poll tracking. Same assignment, because the differences will explain why the pressure was on Biden to do the debate, then tracking how they change with Harris ascension.
- How many people would vote for Biden even knowing he’s not competent? Find examples in the media, possibly in their circle of friends and family? Compile examples and discuss.
- Speaking of the media and its involvement, there’s got to be something to do there.
I’m jealous. But I might be teaching stats this fall and if so, I’ve decided to center the first semester around the election. Data collection mostly, as they won’t have the tools to analyze until later in the year.
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“It’s so great to be able to talk about this analytically, with the interest in education instead of catastrophizing Trump’s possible election.”
“Well. It doesn’t hurt that I vote Republican and am rooting for Trump. Don’t tell anyone else, though. I’m new at this….”
“WHAT?”
“I…”
“You’re kidding. I can’t believe…..”
“Wait. You? You can’t be. You’re gay, Indian, and what….twenty three?”
“Four.”
“Get the fuck out.”
“Don’t tell anyone. I don’t have tenure.”
“No fear.”
So for the first time I have four people to text about the election! That’s really cool.
And what the hell are the odds?
educationrealist 