Southwest Decides

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Social studies department offers America Decides course for fifth time

From analyzing the aggressive debates from the screen to having thoughtful conversations in the classroom, America Decides is once again available this presidential election cycle. Having started in 2000 with the Bush vs. Al Gore election, this class was implemented in the district with the goal of making students become more active participants in the country’s politics.

With the class only being offered one semester every four years, many students sign up, and in turn there are many sections being taught by four social studies teachers: Kathryn Pinto, Dustin Leochner, Brandon Bishop and Laura Williamson.

Pinto has been teaching this class since its inception and additionally was part of the original district team where she was able to collaborate to create the curriculum for the course.

“There’s a lot of topics that you can cover, and it was very hard to embed those into the other courses,” Pinto said. “Having this as an option every four years was thought to be a really positive experience.”

For sophomore Vriti Patel, politics have always been an interest and having the opportunity to earn credit for exploring political views was something she could not pass up.

“Having a class where we can discuss the current events that are going on is something that I would probably engage in,” Patel said.

Patel said she is politically involved and when she became aware of the opportunity to take the course, she couldn’t pass it up.

SOUTHWEST DECIDES

“I was really excited about the election, because I like talking about such things,” Patel said. “I was thinking about my course selection, and I heard about this class because the election isn’t something that happens every year, so I just heard about it from other teachers and was excited about it.”

For others, America Decides was a class they had known about for an extended period of time and always had plans to take. Senior Harrison Powell was first introduced to the class in his freshman year.

“When I was signing up for classes freshman year, they were talking about it as an option for senior year,” Powell said.

Being interested in politics but not necessarily very involved has put Powell in a position for the opportunity to learn and embrace more regarding both political spectrums.

“I’m interested in politics, but I’m just interested about learning more,” Powell said.

With the election season at its peak, the class has covered a wide range of topics that accommodate everyone’s political interests.

“I’m a big fan of the Electoral College, because it’s understanding how the president is not directly elected, because we’re actually voting for electors who cast those ballots,” Pinto said. “Election night is all about the electoral map. I really like to cover the sea of red and blue on the electoral map; it is very different.”

The dynamic of America Decides is quite different from the typical core classes. Having taught the class for the fifth time now, Pinto said it has changed this year with the circumstances.

“In years past, when you have a full classroom of students, [you] have maybe more opportunities for debate. [This year,] they’re a little less likely to want to openly discuss politically charged topics when there are fewer people in the room,” Pinto said. “So it’s just a little bit of a different dynamic in that sense”

For students like Powell, the dynamic is significantly different from core science and math classes regardless of COVID-19 restrictions and circumstances.

“[America Decides] is more interactive,” Powell said. “I like the kind of discussion and the availability to share viewpoints.”

With a different dynamic, comes a different kind of election. With a record breaking 93 million early ballots as of Nov. 1, this election is already making American history, according to NPR.

“This election is not only dramatically politicized, but it’s also kind of pandemic produced,” Patel said. “These sorts of things are obviously going to affect not only how the election is actually executed, but how it’s perceived.”

Regardless of political stance, teachers teaching America Decides hope to better prepare the school community to fulfill their civic duty and have awareness of their impact.

“Ultimately, we always hope that we are educating future voters,” Pinto said. “And that students understand how to articulate their own personal political views, and engage in civic dialogue with others who don’t agree with them and hopefully, understand that they are able to impact the political process.” | saharbaha

In social studies teacher Laura Williamson’s America Decides class, freshman Brent Gillis researches the presidential election. Photo by Leah Goldstein.