Editor’s Note: As a way of kicking off the Times’ coverage of the November elections, we talked to students in New London and Waterford high school civics classes about the role of the citizenry in a democracy.
May we share some early advice to future graduation speakers at New London and Waterford high schools?
You were probably planning on offering a farrago of platitudes about how high school graduates are the future of the nation, and we want them to become productive citizens.
Here’s the thing: They don’t need to be told that. They already know, and we maybe shouldn’t weep so much for the future of the republic.
Both New London and Waterford high schools offer classes in American government and civics, but the courses teach much more than how a bill becomes a law and the separation of powers.
They are more often forums where students learn about their relationship to the government and their community—in essence, citizenship.
But for high school students in the neighboring towns, citizenship is not a monolithic concept; it manifests itself in different ways and different contexts.
This being an election year, for the most part both WHS and NLHS students had concerns about similar issues: Iraq, the economy, education, and the environment.
In speaking to the civics students in New London and Waterford, the conversations revealed one slight difference: The New Londoners seemed more focused on domestic issues than their counterparts in Waterford.
Kinde Queenan, a NLHS senior, said more than once that the government “should focus more on our country.”
“We’ve got to worry about affordable energy, education,” she said. “We’ve got lots of important things to do here.”
The Waterford students also ticked off similar domestic issues they hope to see the government grapple with, but they were more quick to mention Iraq and the United Nations.
Although both the NLHS and WHS students were passionate about the election, citizenship, to them, was something more universal.
For Queenan, a good citizen has all the qualities of a good friend.
“It’s someone who does the right thing,” she said. “It’s someone who will watch your back.”
Anusha Perulalla, a WHS junior, thinks good citizenship means always trying to make “your community a better place.”
Mike Gross, her classmate, said good citizens try to do “whatever they can in their own area.”
Connor Nee, a NLHS senior, said that it is important to pay attention to “what’s going on around you,” but also “what’s going on in the world.”
Both schools have a community service requirement that students must complete before they graduate.
“We promote what we call ‘active citizenship,’” WHS civics teacher Brett Arnold said. “It’s about giving back to the community as much as it is following the issues.”
Perhaps because of the civics classes and the historic nature of the presidential race, students in both schools are engaged with the November election. Although the majority of them are not eligible to vote, students at both schools are following it mostly on television and, not surprisingly, on the Internet.
Gross said he gets a dose of news when he signs onto his e-mail accounts, eliciting nods from around the classroom.
But many of the students, while they are engaged with the McCain-Obama race, take a jaundiced view of the coverage of the campaign in the media.
“It’s been really catty and nasty,” said Rachel Miller, a NLHS student.
Miller said she has been unimpressed with some of the commentary on Republican vice-presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.
“She gives a speech, trying to make eloquent points,” Miller said, “and the media is concerned if she picked her nose.”
Queenan said the coverage is too focused on “all the drama” that surrounds the race instead of on the issues.
“It’s really negative,” she said.
But many of the students can rattle off and offer opinions on several of the key issues facing the country, including those that have not been hot topics.
Miller addressed poverty, expressing shock that there are some parts of the country, like near her grandmother’s home in New Mexico, where there is no running water.
“[The candidates] have to pay attention to that,” she said.
Solly Ross, a WHS student, hoped the government could better fund scientific research.
Gross was concerned about the current state of the economy and the government bailout of several investment banks.
“Seven hundred billion?” he said. “They need to get their act together.”
Joe Steady, a WHS student, said the next president has to focus on energy policies.
Kasey Mortimer, also a WHS student, mentioned Social Security and the need for “cleaner cars that do not suck up gas.”
Still, most of the students in the civics classes at both schools are under 18, and many of them are looking forward to 2012, the first presidential election in which they will be able to cast a vote.
“If you don’t vote,” Queenan said, “you can’t complain.”