Presidential politics inspires a teaching moment

Presidential politics offer teachable moment

As published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Presidential primaries are entertaining and instructive. Candidates, voters and media outlets collude to ensure that private and public conversations are flooded with a surplus of outlandish, contradictory and highly improbable claims.

So when Adam, my 6-year old son, asked, “Why is everyone talking about Donald Trump,” and big sister Zoe added, “Yea, what’s up with that,” I rolled my eyes, and paused to consider how I might respond to this more than reasonable question — a question many adults are asking.

Many years ago, I was afforded the responsibility to decide which students earned a passing grade in the American Government classes I taught — and by extension, which students were eligible to graduate from high school.

Much to my dismay, a few years of teaching lead me to the realization that not all teenagers are ready and interested in learning about the complex, abstract concepts of the U.S. Constitution, nor the messy practice of representative democracy.

Likewise, as my youthful idealism waned, I struggled to maintain my passion for the political process, leaving me ill-equipped to inspire young and often uninterested students.

The current presidential primary season has failed to reignite my political passion, leaving me feeling as challenged to inspire Adam and Zoe about the importance of the presidential election cycle as I was with my former students.

Still, before answering Adam and Zoe’s questions about Donald Trump, I wanted to explain the role of the American president in a way that was understandable from a first- and third-grade view of the world. I shared with Zoe and Adam that the president is the leader of the United States in a way that is similar to the principal being the leader of their school.

They appeared to follow my comparison, so I asked them, “What makes a good principal?”

“Someone who makes sure that kids follow the rules,” Zoe answered, and “someone who lets us do what we want, like have extra recess,” added Adam.

And there it was, Zoe and Adam had clearly identified the central tension of the American political process — the tenuous balance of rights and responsibilities.

The presidential primaries have a way of bringing this perennial conflict into sharp relief, in rather spectacular fashion this season. Voters collectively demand a list of rights, which are improbable for most and acutely absent for far too many, while at the same time assigning responsibilities to others, especially to those who are deemed different or less deserving. In turn, candidates desperately seek to reassure everyone — voters and themselves — that they can protect rights and hold others accountable, better than anyone else.

But we live in a very complex world, where the intersection of domestic policy, international relations and ecological realities mean that no president — no human being — can effectively deliver on this agenda. So, we are chronically disappointed in our candidates and presidents, asserting that we deserve better.

Meanwhile, Adam may not get extra recess as often as he would like and Zoe is sometimes disgruntled when her peers do not follow the rules, but, in their own way, they have both learned that their school community works best when rights and responsibilities are shared by everyone.

In this way, Adam and Zoe have not only experienced an example of effective leadership in their principal, but have begun to participate as members of a political community.

As their world expands and becomes more complex, our role as parents includes helping Zoe and Adam remember that while they have certain political rights, they also have a responsibility to help ensure the rights of others.

As for Donald, my responsibility to public reasonableness, trumps my right to free speech.

John Engel of Florence is a consultant and director of the Healthy Men and Boys Network. He can be reached through his website www.fatherhoodjourney.com.