New and improved government courses have started to provoke a strong interest in politics at VHS. Teachers Joe Carollo and Melissa Wallerstein have taken on the challenge of preparing students, most of whom are seniors, for the AP test in May. However the AP test is not the only thing the teachers are focused on; the 2012 elections are becoming a prevailing discussion topic.
In Mrs. Wallerstein’s class, the students were assigned to watch the first and second political debate and take notes. To help take notes on the first debate, students were given “A Debate Viewing Guide”, which focuses on general topics the candidates discussed. For the second debate, students were asked to come up with their own questions that they would ask the candidates, and use those as a base for their notes. The popular topics in Mrs. Wallerstein’s third period class were questions about unemployment and college tuition. Most students agreed their questions were partially answered, but wished the candidates went more in-depth with their answers.
The students mostly agreed Governor Romney won the first debate, but President Obama made a strong comeback in the second debate.
“Talking about the first debate in class helped me to understand it more,” said senior Catherine Aracil. “Watching the debate also allowed me to learn way more about the issues going on in government today.”
Because many seniors will be 18 before this presidential election, they will be eligible to vote. These seniors especially have taken a stronger interest in their AP Government classes.
“In the beginning, the class forced me to keep up with the news and political issues,” said senior Gabi Latimer, “but now I really like politics and try to keep up with everything on my own. I read the newspaper and try to stay informed, especially because I will be able to vote for the president myself.”
AP Government teachers are not only encouraging students to be more aware of political issues, but find their voice.
“My dad is very liberal, which has always rubbed off on me but since I started taking AP Gov, I have started to form my own opinions,” said Gabi.
Mrs. Wallerstein’s class took ideology quizzes to help students determine where they stand for certain political issues.
“The ideology quizzes were very helpful because I started to form an opinion for political issues that I never realized I cared about,” said Cat.
Senior Luke Sniatkowski said, “Sometimes I take things we talk about in Government home, and discuss them with my family. We pretty much all have the same political views so we usually agree.”
“AP Gov has helped me to appreciate my dad’s political rants,” confessed Gabi. “Before the class I never understood what he was talking about, but now I bring things up with him that I learned in class. We have such in-depth conversations now.”
AP Government has already succeeded in getting students more interested in politics and helped new voters gain a better understanding on issues they will be choosing a candidate for.
Senior Harry Kroessler will not be eligible to vote in this election but said, “AP Government is a valuable use of time because I feel that in order to be an informed future voter, I should have a formal understanding of the functions of the government that has strong presence in everybody’s everyday life.”
After Mr. Cesa visited Mrs. Wallerstein’s third period AP Government class, he commented about how pleased he was with the high level of analysis on the two debates, and how proud he was of the young people at VHS because contrary to popular belief, the students do have a deep understanding of the political issues going on today.