The shuffle of feet in a polling location, the red or blue of each US state’s polling being flipped on national TV, and the scratching of pencils in room 486 occupy the senses this fall. Every four years, Parker’s Elections class engages in multiple facets of U.S. politics, from learning, presenting, and raising awareness to canvassing across state borders. Taught by Upper School history teacher Andrew Bigelow, Elections 2024 is a semester-long course that covers current and historic elections and aims to give students a rich understanding of the U.S. government, with current issues addressed each time the class is offered.
“It’s funny, because I’ve been looking at my notes from last time, and I can’t use any of them because it all depends on what’s happening,” Bigelow said. Though the class content changes every time it’s taught, he mentions how the students who elect to take this class are always passionate about the material. “And so every election has been totally different, but also my kids have been totally different. The one thing that’s consistent is the enthusiasm and energy of my kids is always really good.”
This year, the curriculum consisted of many important events and topics regarding the 2024 election season: the Senate races, swing states, and the Chicago School Board election, among others. The Elections class also brings in speakers and creates opportunities for learning that are based on real people and real interactions.
“We spent a lot of time listening to people who were activists, like Operation Swing State,” Bigelow noted. “And so this woman, Ellen Rosenfield, who’s running for the fourth district (in the school board), came to talk to the kids, and she was great.”
Bigelow went on to mention more speakers bringing in fresh perspectives for the students. The Elections students even participated in a joint class with Statistics students, “looking at different types of polling, different probability factors, (and) the margin of error.”
This year, the fate of the Presidential Election lies heavily in the swing states. According to the New York Times, “if both candidates win all of the states in their solid, likely and lean categories, the race would come down to the seven tossup states…” This means that states in the Midwest like Wisconsin and Michigan are very influential in this election.
For this reason, some students in the Elections class are becoming involved in the election through multiple platforms. One of them is canvassing. Also referred to campaigning or door-to-dooring, canvassing is a way to try to increase voting, whether it be for a certain candidate or not.
As well as going door-knocking, students were involved in phone banking. Seniors Audrey Tai and Madelyn Young organized a text banking event for the organization Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, and with the help of students, sent over 1000 messages to encourage eligible people to vote.
“I definitely think that voter engagement and voter participation is really important,” Tai said. “I think that high schoolers should get involved, because I feel like by participating more in the democratic process I also learned about the election and saw how it works.”
Even some who aren’t in the Elections class are participating in this year’s presidential race by election judging. This job is open for Chicago students who are in 11th and 12th grade and involves assisting voters when casting ballots, giving the judges a unique experience in the election.
Election participation, even as minor as it is, was Tai’s favorite part of the class. “I really liked that we were able to do a lot of fieldwork on our own outside of class. I think that was a great way for everyone to kind of see what they enjoyed doing, and also just explore ways of getting involved.”
