Loading...
Share/Save/Bookmark

Teachers get lesson on how to teach politics

By Clark Davis

This audio player requires Adobe Flash
July 14, 2010 · Instructors from the Huntington area got a lesson this week on teaching civics. The aim for the University of Virginia program is to improve civics education in public schools.

The classes, led by the University of Virginia Center for Politics instructors, take place at four different locations around the state this week. Wednesday’s classes were held in Huntington and attended by teachers from Huntington and Charleston area schools. The workshops are part of the Youth Leadership Initiative.

 

Meg Heubeck is director of instruction for the Youth Leadership Initiative. She says it’s about getting children interested in the democratic process.

 

“If we want a thriving democracy we have to protect it by educating our students about how it works. We need it to function better than it does now. We need people to be able to sit down and discuss things with each other civilly, so these are all things that the Youth Leadership Initiative does,” Heubeck said.

 

The Youth Leadership Initiative reaches approximately 50,000 teachers nationwide and in schools abroad. It organizes yearly mock elections, an online legislative summit, and Democracy Corps, a service learning component.

 

The workshop was for teachers in grades K-12. Heubeck says it’s important to teach even young children about the government.

 

“As a person who’s been going into schools for quite some time I can tell you that the younger, if you start younger, my child goes with me to vote, that just becomes something that you expect, So by having a mock election in the school, you get those younger students use to it,” Heubeck said.

 

During the workshop they discussed everything from what makes up a person’s political ideology, to how to have an appropriate conversation about politics. Heubeck says unlike when she was growing up, politics isn’t discussed in the family environment like it used to be.

 

“I think first people don’t eat around the table as much, don’t spend as much time as a family unit and then the political atmosphere that we have now - in fact I just read a newspaper article the other day that showed if you’re very set in your beliefs, even if you’re given facts that contradict that - you tend not to believe it,” Heubeck said.

 

Scott White teaches civics at Cabell Midland high school. He says it can be hard to get children interested in politics when they have no back ground in it.

 

“I think a lot of students reach 12th grade and their interests lie somewhere totally outside, different than politics, different than government and they think it’s boring and if we can do anything to make it applicable and exciting, then I think that's what we truly need to do,” White said.

 

White says he hopes that through workshops like this they can inspire today’s youth to be more civically engaged and more civil in political debate.  

 

“Hopefully we can take this generation to a different level. It may not be something that happens over night, but if we can get back to a situation where they can talk about it with each other, and I see that emerging, there are kids that are really involved and want to make a change,” White said.

 

The YLI have conferences in Wheeling Thursday and in Martinsburg Friday.

Latest News :

By John Hingsbergen & Associated Press

Some West Virginia county officials are questioning whether voters should be allowed to cast straight-ticket votes in November for both a special U.S. Senate election and the general election races.

By Cecelia Mason

Many folks will travel through Appalachia this holiday weekend on four-lane roads planned in the 1960’s that were meant to open the region to the world.

By Chip Hitchcock

WV PBS filmmaker Chip Hitchcock watched West Virginia National Guard soldiers helping to "advise and assist" in Iraq. In this story, he observes a crime scene investigation class for Iraqi police.

By Erica Peterson

For the third year a row, West Virginia is offering a sales tax holiday on Energy Star products. This tax break is estimated to save West Virginians almost $4 million in the next three months.

By Erica Peterson

A federal judge issued a ruling Tuesday against Patriot Coal for selenium violations. The company must install equipment to clean up pollution at two mines in southern West Virginia during the next 2 1/2 years.
[First] [Previous] [Next] [Last]
West Virginia Public Broadcasting is a member station of: