Some call the upcoming 2016 presidential election the most important election in modern history, as the new president elect will be making influential decisions regarding Supreme Court justices, climate change, immigration, and many social issues.  A number of Parker students will be ready.  

This election is being taught at Parker, where students are learning about the election process and democracy in America through Upper School history teacher Andrew Bigelow’s elective class called Elections, a class available the two semesters before the election. The course, which ran last year and is running again this fall, uses contemporary elections to discuss the “nature of democracy, and the future of this nation,” according to the course description.

Junior Ray Blickstein, who took the class last semester, said of the curriculum, “The main focus of Elections was to gain a deeper understanding of the intricate processes of choosing the major party nominees for President of the United States.”

Blickstein got a lot out of the Elections class. “One thing that is not taught in Parker’s eighth grade US history course is the primary nominating processes,” Blickstein said. “So Elections was a great extension to that class, especially because presidential elections are often relevant in society.”

Newly graduated Chandler Seed, who also took the class last semester, agreed. “I definitely not only came out of the class with more understanding of political history,” Seed said, “but I also had a much better understanding of my own political views.”

The election has also become one of the most unusual elections to date. The race for a Republican nominee started with seventeen candidates, many of whom were considered moderate conservatives. The Republican Party Nominee that emerged was Donald Trump, a businessman and television personality with no political experience whose rhetoric has been called outright offensive by everyone from actor Aziz Ansari to President Barack Obama.  Trump’s campaign message of “Make America Great Again” has nonetheless appealed to a strong sense of anger and discontent amongst an unexpectedly large segment of voters–particularly white male voters.

“I think that these elections have been filled with a lot of hate,” junior Grace Buono said. “Trump, instead of promoting ways for our country to move forward, is focusing on the negative parts and causing people to turn on each other.”  

The Democratic Party, after a race among five candidates, has picked Hillary Rodham Clinton, former first lady, New York Senator, and Secretary of State, as its nominee. Clinton was expected to secure the nomination from the start, but the rise of Senator Bernie Sanders, with his call for a political revolution, and his appeal to the millennial voting pool, brought a fierce competition to the table.

Sanders’s campaign had the effect of moving Clinton further to the left in her policies in order for her to win over the party. This is a historic moment for American politics, as her nomination marks the first time a woman has been nominated for president by a major political party.

The last two weeks of July saw the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, in Cleveland and Philadelphia, respectively. The Republican Party was faced with choosing between traditional republican views and Trump’s extremely conservative politics. Some speakers, such as football star Tim Tebow and Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker, jumped on the Trump bandwagon, but other figures, notably runner up Ted Cruz, rebuked Trump and exposed the disparities within the party that Trump will have to overcome to win the election.

By contrast, the Democratic Party featured legions of speakers adamantly supporting Clinton’s nomination, prominently Ghazala and Khizr Khan, the Muslim parents of a fallen US soldier.

President Obama gave his support too. “So this year, in this election, I’m asking you to reject cynicism and reject fear,” Obama said, “and to summon what is best in us to elect Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States.” Sanders also finally backed Clinton, which healed some of the fissures protesting Sanders supporters were creating at the convention.

A CNN poll taken between July 29-3 shows Clinton with about 45% of the vote and Trump with 37%. The missing 18% belongs to a portion of voters who are not satisfied with either candidate, some of whom are turning towards third party independent candidates such as Green Party nominee Jill Stein and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson.

Come November, only some seniors will be able to vote, but all Parker students should be informed– whether through the Election class or through keeping up with the news– about this historic election that will change not only America, but the world as a whole.