Using Issues Kids Care About

This year--it's hard to believe--I have multitudinous seniors who envy their 18-year-old friends. Why? No, it's not because they can finally buy cigarettes without worrying that the Conoco guy's going to card them. It's not because they can now shop for porn at Fascinations. It's because they're old enough to vote in November. I have other students who, realizing they can't make a difference by voting, have chosen to become activists. One of my 17-year-old students has registered 250 people to vote and in doing so multiplied her "would-be" vote exponentially.

And it's not just the Obama kids. My conservative students (God help them) have also become vocal. I had a student the other day voice her support for McCain because she wants to go to med school and thinks a more universalized health care system would victimize doctors. Another student questioned (rightly, I think) Obama's promise to cut taxes on "95% of the middle class." It's the same textual analysis I teach in AP Lit., but they're applying it to the, gulp, real world? Don't look now, but kids are talking about something other than beer bongs and Insane Clown Posse.

So why wouldn't I use this energy in my classroom? Last week, I discussed the speech with my AP students. I had to cut them off or they would have gone all period. I'm having my sophomores study both of the major party's acceptance speeches. If you can find an educational opportunity imbedded in an issue kids are emotional about, you gotta use it.