Facebook Firestorm
If you are the Facebook friend of any of the Pilgrim composition class students, you may have been privy to quite a flurry of discussion since school yesterday. I did not enter the public discussion, but did communicate privately with some of the students after they had posted online. The floodgates were opened after the students decided to post a link to a certain article I had come across and shared in class (The students actually read it aloud in class, paragraph by paragraph.). Here's the link to the article.
We've been studying "Elections" at school as the current events topic of the month, and I have dove-tailed a lot of the composition class writing assignments with the current events topic. This has resulted in the students in that class having learned more on the subject earlier in the current events assignment cycle than is usually the case. In addition, by first instructing the comp class students on what research was needed, and giving them some direction on how to work with two other students (randomly assigned), I made them group leaders for a poster-making project. The posters are on display in the learning center. The emphasis was on content--not design.
The subjects that appear as titles on the posters were randomly assigned. The subjects were: American Exceptionalism, Jobs and the Economy, the Environment, Energy, Health Care, Taxation and Entitlements, Diplomacy and Military Force, Civil Liberties and National Security, and Immigration. I did not include abortion and gay marriage--not because they are not important, but because there is so much information on those subjects--so easy to come by that it would not be fair to allow some to study that when others would have to dig harder for their information. We limited the subjects to nine, because that's how many students are in the comp class, and the total in the school is 27, so it worked out perfectly for each comp student to work with two others--on the posters and throughout the project.
We posted on the server at school or printed out the entire Party Platform of four political parties, along with some other material on the subject. A transcript of John Roth's speech on why he doesn't vote is in the box that contains printed resources.
On the posters, each group was to supply content under these headings: Definition (of the subject assigned to their group), Relevant Scriptures (on the subject), Why is this a significant issue in this election?, Insights from non-party sources, and Existing party platform information. In the last section, they were to examine three different party platforms and extract what that party is saying on this subject.
We are also working toward creating a Pilgrim Party Platform. This will be an effort for the students to articulate and agree on a view on the above subjects that takes into account the facts in the matter, the teaching of Scripture, and understandings from our faith tradition. In preparation for this, the comp class has spent some time learning about how a party platform is written. Notably absent in our Pilgrim Platform will be endorsement of any candidate in the elections or endorsement of a specific existing party platform other than our own.
I can't quite remember how I found the above article, but I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject, and noted that this article did a good job of encapsulating some of what seemed important for us all to remember during the study. It addressed politics more generally than "elections" but seemed timely nonetheless. I didn't know anything about the author or the publication where it originally appeared. After several weeks of wrestling with a variety of topics being discussed in this election, backing off a bit to get an overall perspective served a useful purpose. I did note that this article assumes that voting is what Christians should do, and yesterday in class simply pointed out that John Roth takes a different view of that issue. I also privately took issue with the elaboration of the last point, but considered the possibility that it was given in irony. It had to do with Lincoln's election being important because of what it meant for slavery. I didn't comment on this in class.
On Facebook, some of the students really got hammered, and our school got called names right along with the students. Bear in mind that the students' only initial offence was to post a link to the above article and make some comment about liking it or agreeing with it. From my perspective, many of the Facebook comments directed our way were inappropriate and unjust.
I also heard that there were mutterings among some who had seen the posters at school--grumblings about how inappropriate it was that students are studying politics. Excuse me? For starters, the subject was "Elections"--not politics. As if, in a current events "class," ignoring the biggest news item in the media right now would have been more appropriate than trying to address it rationally and against the background of Scripture and in the context of our faith community. I can't imagine a more appropriate time and place and way to address it. Not addressing it would seem to me to be an injustice to our students.
Being open about what's going on at school is very important to me, not least because local people support the school and they have a legitimate interest in seeing what goes on there. I do appreciate it when input from outside the school reflects an effort to understand what is really happening rather than lobbing a salvo after having done little more than sight a target. Before then, questions are probably more appropriate than pronouncements.
In the interest of being open, I'm reproducing here the first sheet of the handout that went to all the students. The next page detailed the assignments, and the last page had an article that very briefly summarized some of the positions of the two major political parties on some of the issues. Quoting now--
Background Information on Elections
With elections for officials at many levels coming up in November, the news is full of campaign and election information. Much of the publicity focuses on the presidential election, but city, township, county, and state elections are being held also.
Yesterday, August 30, 2012, was the last day of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL, at which Mitt Romney is being finalized as the Republican candidate for president. Paul Ryan is the Republican candidate for vice president. The Democratic National Convention will be in session next week in Charlotte, NC, beginning on Tuesday. At this convention, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be selected as the Democratic president-vice presidential candidates.
Another event that takes place at a national convention is the adoption of a party platform. A party's platform refers to a set of ideas that people in the party commonly agree on, although an individual candidate may support a set of ideas slightly different from that of the party. The individual ideas in the platform are often referred to as planks.
Here at school the staff is committed to maintaining a non-partisan stance. That means that we choose not to identify with or promote a specific political party. Beyond that, we identify with Mennonites in our cultural tradition who, throughout history, have not typically involved themselves with political activism. We do care about some issues that might show up as planks in the platform of a political party. However, we believe that all political party platforms have elements that are in agreement with the teaching of Scripture, and other elements that are in conflict with the teachings of Scripture. In other words, no party is consistently aligned with Truth on all counts and thus no party deserves our unqualified support. Only the Kingdom of God deserves our complete loyalty.
In light of the "mixed bag" that describes political parties, we will focus mostly in this current events study on ideas in various party platforms, while noting information about the character and personal qualifications of individual candidates. Students are encouraged to seek out positions aligned with Scripture, rather than focusing on alignment with a specific party. Here are several quotes that help clarify what seems important about a study of elections.
Blasie Pascal: "The primary moral imperative is to think clearly."
Lord Palmerston: "In politics, one has no permanent allies, only permanent interests."
Richard Cizik: "No candidate will ever embody perfectly a commitment to biblical principles. Thus, a well-informed conscience, aided by prudence, is required to discern the truth about the candidates and their claims. Beyond a stand on the issues are factors such as personal character, integrity and temperament."
John Roth (Mennonite): "Our tradition has served the body politic best not as magistrates, but in a prophetic role--questioning, challenging, discomfiting, and tweaking those holding power, reminding them that they are ultimately accountable to God for their actions."
John Roth: "Combined with a clear commitment to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, and to bind up the wounds of the hurting, conscientious abstention from the presidential elections could be a powerful symbol of our conviction that true power--the primary locus of God's hand in history--resides ultimately in the gathered church, not among the policy makers in Washington, D.C."
End of quote.
The first three quotes above came from this article. The quotes come near the end of the article. The last two quotes above came from here. Later: I just tried that last link and it didn't work. You might try clicking on the link below if you want to read John Roth's article. I found it online just now by searching for the article by title: "Polls Apart: Why Believers Might Conscientiously Abstain From Voting."
http://www.anabaptist.org/roth.html
********************
I have one request: If you're within reach of a Pilgrim student right now, give them a hug, verbal or otherwise. They deserve it for their hard work and efforts at maintaining good attitudes. One more request: If you hear uninformed mutterings, do your bit to inform. Thanks.
*******************
We've been studying "Elections" at school as the current events topic of the month, and I have dove-tailed a lot of the composition class writing assignments with the current events topic. This has resulted in the students in that class having learned more on the subject earlier in the current events assignment cycle than is usually the case. In addition, by first instructing the comp class students on what research was needed, and giving them some direction on how to work with two other students (randomly assigned), I made them group leaders for a poster-making project. The posters are on display in the learning center. The emphasis was on content--not design.
The subjects that appear as titles on the posters were randomly assigned. The subjects were: American Exceptionalism, Jobs and the Economy, the Environment, Energy, Health Care, Taxation and Entitlements, Diplomacy and Military Force, Civil Liberties and National Security, and Immigration. I did not include abortion and gay marriage--not because they are not important, but because there is so much information on those subjects--so easy to come by that it would not be fair to allow some to study that when others would have to dig harder for their information. We limited the subjects to nine, because that's how many students are in the comp class, and the total in the school is 27, so it worked out perfectly for each comp student to work with two others--on the posters and throughout the project.
We posted on the server at school or printed out the entire Party Platform of four political parties, along with some other material on the subject. A transcript of John Roth's speech on why he doesn't vote is in the box that contains printed resources.
On the posters, each group was to supply content under these headings: Definition (of the subject assigned to their group), Relevant Scriptures (on the subject), Why is this a significant issue in this election?, Insights from non-party sources, and Existing party platform information. In the last section, they were to examine three different party platforms and extract what that party is saying on this subject.
We are also working toward creating a Pilgrim Party Platform. This will be an effort for the students to articulate and agree on a view on the above subjects that takes into account the facts in the matter, the teaching of Scripture, and understandings from our faith tradition. In preparation for this, the comp class has spent some time learning about how a party platform is written. Notably absent in our Pilgrim Platform will be endorsement of any candidate in the elections or endorsement of a specific existing party platform other than our own.
I can't quite remember how I found the above article, but I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject, and noted that this article did a good job of encapsulating some of what seemed important for us all to remember during the study. It addressed politics more generally than "elections" but seemed timely nonetheless. I didn't know anything about the author or the publication where it originally appeared. After several weeks of wrestling with a variety of topics being discussed in this election, backing off a bit to get an overall perspective served a useful purpose. I did note that this article assumes that voting is what Christians should do, and yesterday in class simply pointed out that John Roth takes a different view of that issue. I also privately took issue with the elaboration of the last point, but considered the possibility that it was given in irony. It had to do with Lincoln's election being important because of what it meant for slavery. I didn't comment on this in class.
On Facebook, some of the students really got hammered, and our school got called names right along with the students. Bear in mind that the students' only initial offence was to post a link to the above article and make some comment about liking it or agreeing with it. From my perspective, many of the Facebook comments directed our way were inappropriate and unjust.
I also heard that there were mutterings among some who had seen the posters at school--grumblings about how inappropriate it was that students are studying politics. Excuse me? For starters, the subject was "Elections"--not politics. As if, in a current events "class," ignoring the biggest news item in the media right now would have been more appropriate than trying to address it rationally and against the background of Scripture and in the context of our faith community. I can't imagine a more appropriate time and place and way to address it. Not addressing it would seem to me to be an injustice to our students.
Being open about what's going on at school is very important to me, not least because local people support the school and they have a legitimate interest in seeing what goes on there. I do appreciate it when input from outside the school reflects an effort to understand what is really happening rather than lobbing a salvo after having done little more than sight a target. Before then, questions are probably more appropriate than pronouncements.
In the interest of being open, I'm reproducing here the first sheet of the handout that went to all the students. The next page detailed the assignments, and the last page had an article that very briefly summarized some of the positions of the two major political parties on some of the issues. Quoting now--
Background Information on Elections
With elections for officials at many levels coming up in November, the news is full of campaign and election information. Much of the publicity focuses on the presidential election, but city, township, county, and state elections are being held also.
Yesterday, August 30, 2012, was the last day of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL, at which Mitt Romney is being finalized as the Republican candidate for president. Paul Ryan is the Republican candidate for vice president. The Democratic National Convention will be in session next week in Charlotte, NC, beginning on Tuesday. At this convention, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be selected as the Democratic president-vice presidential candidates.
Another event that takes place at a national convention is the adoption of a party platform. A party's platform refers to a set of ideas that people in the party commonly agree on, although an individual candidate may support a set of ideas slightly different from that of the party. The individual ideas in the platform are often referred to as planks.
Here at school the staff is committed to maintaining a non-partisan stance. That means that we choose not to identify with or promote a specific political party. Beyond that, we identify with Mennonites in our cultural tradition who, throughout history, have not typically involved themselves with political activism. We do care about some issues that might show up as planks in the platform of a political party. However, we believe that all political party platforms have elements that are in agreement with the teaching of Scripture, and other elements that are in conflict with the teachings of Scripture. In other words, no party is consistently aligned with Truth on all counts and thus no party deserves our unqualified support. Only the Kingdom of God deserves our complete loyalty.
In light of the "mixed bag" that describes political parties, we will focus mostly in this current events study on ideas in various party platforms, while noting information about the character and personal qualifications of individual candidates. Students are encouraged to seek out positions aligned with Scripture, rather than focusing on alignment with a specific party. Here are several quotes that help clarify what seems important about a study of elections.
Blasie Pascal: "The primary moral imperative is to think clearly."
Lord Palmerston: "In politics, one has no permanent allies, only permanent interests."
Richard Cizik: "No candidate will ever embody perfectly a commitment to biblical principles. Thus, a well-informed conscience, aided by prudence, is required to discern the truth about the candidates and their claims. Beyond a stand on the issues are factors such as personal character, integrity and temperament."
John Roth (Mennonite): "Our tradition has served the body politic best not as magistrates, but in a prophetic role--questioning, challenging, discomfiting, and tweaking those holding power, reminding them that they are ultimately accountable to God for their actions."
John Roth: "Combined with a clear commitment to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, and to bind up the wounds of the hurting, conscientious abstention from the presidential elections could be a powerful symbol of our conviction that true power--the primary locus of God's hand in history--resides ultimately in the gathered church, not among the policy makers in Washington, D.C."
End of quote.
The first three quotes above came from this article. The quotes come near the end of the article. The last two quotes above came from here. Later: I just tried that last link and it didn't work. You might try clicking on the link below if you want to read John Roth's article. I found it online just now by searching for the article by title: "Polls Apart: Why Believers Might Conscientiously Abstain From Voting."
http://www.anabaptist.org/roth.html
********************
I have one request: If you're within reach of a Pilgrim student right now, give them a hug, verbal or otherwise. They deserve it for their hard work and efforts at maintaining good attitudes. One more request: If you hear uninformed mutterings, do your bit to inform. Thanks.
*******************
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
9:57 AM
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