http://www.sthelenastar.com/articles/2008/11/26/columnists/aunt_helena/doc492cb7a120b84075904708.txt

Aunt Helena - St. Helena Star
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

….at The Young School this past Veterans Day the youngsters entered into a lively discussion of the meaning of the holiday, of war, of peace, and most of all, of peace-making. And as students painted river rocks with messages of hope and peace they considered the Golden Rule as it is understood by a variety of people and religions. They found them to be remarkably similar. In Christianity this is stated as “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In Judaism: “That which is hateful to you do not do to others.” In the teachings of Islam: “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” In Native American tradition: “All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really one.” An interesting discussion. It would seem the foundations of different faiths are more alike than not.


St. Helena Star

Young School students learn about presidential politics By Jesse Duarte

STAFF WRITER Thursday, January 17, 2008 The Jan. 5 Wyoming Republican caucus, won by Mitt Romney, is more precisely referred to as the Wyoming county conventions. That’s a piece of election trivia that even avid political junkies might not know, but students at St. Helena’s Young School know it.

Miss Natalie’s civics class, made up of 15 fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders, are learning about the presidential election process at the same time the presidential race is heating up.

On Tuesday their learning showed: the class was able to rattle off 13 presidential candidates. Not even the correct spelling of Rudy Giuliani’s last name escaped their scrutiny.

Every year Natalie picks a different issue to focus on in civics. This year’s decision “was a no-brainer,” she said. “We started out studying the role of the president and vice-president. Now with the voting going on we’re studying the history of primaries and caucuses.” The class’s homework for Monday: bring in the results of the Michigan primaries, the Nevada caucus, and the South Carolina Republican primary. Bringing the results of third-party candidates is a plus, but not required.

In addition to the 2008 race, Young School students have learned about the history of the election process. One factoid they learned: Democrat Hubert Humphrey won the 1968 Democratic nomination without entering a single primary.

Young School founder and director JoAnn Bell said the discussion of U.S. politics is taking place in a larger context. Students have studied the evolution of ideas about empires, republics and democracy going all the way back to ancient Greece, when thinkers like Socrates and Plato started exploring how societies organize themselves for the common good.

“We’ve studied the history of people coming together to offer their ideas and found what’s best for the whole,” Bell said. “Right now we’re talking about U.S. politics, but they have the background of how that conversation has been going on for centuries.”

To bring in other subject areas, Bell said teachers at the Young School have used Greek architecture as a metaphor for building social structures.

On Tuesday Young School students presented the symbols they’d drawn for their own made-up parties. They just got done studying the symbols of the country’s two major parties: the Republican elephant and the Democratic donkey.

Those symbols were first used by late-1800s political cartoonist Thomas Nast, and they seem to have stuck — even though, as a couple students pointed out, an elephant could squish a donkey.

Even worse for Democrats, as another student was quick to add, is that another word for donkey is — well, a word that kids aren’t supposed to use.

Chase said she’s enjoyed learning about the party “bosses” who wielded political power in many large cities during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Lucy liked learning about how each candidate has a platform that helps voters see what they’ll do if they win the election.

The students’ knowledge of election season lingo like “caucus” and “Super Duper Tuesday” has helped them participate in their parents’ political conversations and debates. Camille’s parents found themselves on the business end of a pop quiz testing how much they knew about the presidential candidates and the election process.

Natalie said she’s avoided showing bias toward any candidate or political party, and hasn’t revealed her political affiliation to her students.

“It’s important not to make fun of people because of their opinions because when it comes to politics people are really passionate,” Natalie told her class.

But that nonpartisan approach hasn’t stopped some students from forming their own opinions, which are usually influenced by their parents’ political persuasions.

Conrad hopes Barack Obama wins because “we need a difference in this president.” Hillary Clinton might be able to bring about that change, but Obama is his first choice.

Macklin also hopes a Democrat wins. “My favorite candidate was Bill Richardson, but he dropped out so now it’s Hillary,” he said.