Voting in Schools
Maybe I would be more sensitive to this issue if I were a parent or principal, but I don’t see why voting in schools is such a big deal. In the worst-case scenario, a school cancels classes. Then parents have to find alternative child care — an inconvenience, but no different from cancellations for professional development or snowstorms.
I’m not convinced that it’s such a security threat, either. Students go on field trips all the time, on which they encounter crowds of strangers. If teachers can handle field trips to public museums, why can’t they supervise students on election day? And is it really so traumatic for students to eat lunch in their classrooms one day a year?
Furthermore, the suggestion that voting take place in firehouses instead is a terrible idea. Imagine all those people lining up outside the firehouses and blocking fire trucks. Inconveniencing firefighters who are trying to save lives would be far worse than inconveniencing teachers who are trying to escort their classes to a computer lab.
Great post, Sarah. This is one of the weakest opinion pieces I have ever read. I love the part at the end where she suggests other assets for polling places, “Why must elementary schools be used as polling places? Why not churches, firehouses, senior centers, auditorium or other places people can gather?”
Let’s see here, churches already are used, firehouses are a horrible idea for the reasons Sarah gave, just how many senior centers does she think there are in a community, and where the heck does she think you can find auditoriums except for in schools?
Comment by David Stokes — December 11, 2008 @ 12:11 p.m.
ok quick defense to the auditoriums. Almost every community has a YMCA, and many have town hall meeting rooms and gyms.
Now back to my agreeing with Sarah…. I think schools should keep classes running, and use the experience as the educational opportunity that it truly is. Make it a “Take your Parents to the Polls” day. Children have a mock election right there. Let them see the whole process. Children are already inundated with the media portion of the campaigns why not let them see the process live and in person and in their own way participate. I would suspect it would make social studies a bit more interesting and have residual long term effects. While not all the students will be future politicians they will most assuredly have the responsibility of being voters.
Comment by Michele Whiting — December 21, 2008 @ 8:29 p.m.