IN THE CLASSROOM:

They debated the issues as the nominees stood in front of stakeholders. One advocated change while the other clung to traditional ideals — both vying for the presidency.

Class president that is.

Students in the Resource Specialist Program at TeWinkle Middle School learned about the electoral process by holding their own elections last week. Teacher Kristi Jacobs used the exercise to help the children learn about voting and advocacy, but also character building.

“These are kids who don’t usually get to be a part of civic responsibility,” Jacobs said. “They are learning about character issues they can apply to the general education requirement.”

The students, while inexperienced public policy debaters, were still similar to those on the national stage.

When two of the boys debated, one called for change in classroom rules, stating they could be improved while another thought they were fine as is. Another debate item saw one nominee call for fiscal responsibility in not buying new, larger cups for the water cooler. The other nominee countered that the larger cups would be more efficient. One asked for parents and students to pay for field trips, another said the school should pony up.

It’s hard to advocate social security or welfare reform when you have to stand on a Lego box to reach the podium, but the students were excited to get involved.

The activity was a week-long process, starting Feb. 11 with the students listing character traits they thought were important for a community leader: responsibility, fairness, trust. They evaluated each other, listing positive traits that demonstrated leadership. They eventually narrowed down the list and nominated two students for each of the two class periods.

The activity culminated with a debate between the nominees, the questions posed by the students.

“It is kind of embarrassing, but it was cool,” said Chris Otey, 13, a nominee who told students he wanted to help everyone in the classroom.

Students voted directly after the debate and the winners will be announced following the President’s Day holiday, which gives children the entire week off.

The winner will be class president for a week. Decided by the entire class, the winner will be in charge of taking care of the class turtles, keeping the room clean and other civic duties. The president has the perk of leaving class one minute early for the week he or she is in charge.

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at [email protected].