Eighth-graders focus on election issues

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Large sheets of paper with Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s views on the Syrian refugee crisis hung around the classroom, along with notes on citation and research and inspirational quotes by Buddha.

The discussion in Kathy Dahdal’s eighth-grade English class at The New School for Leadership and the Arts in Kingsbridge came a day after the final presidential debate, and 32 students weighed in on Ms. Clinton’s and Mr. Trump’s proposed policy for Syrian refugees and on other topics in the debate.

“I respectfully disagree with Devon,” one eighth-grader said. “How are you going to build a safe zone and want everybody else to pay for it?”

In response, students shot their arms into the air and enthusiastically waved green, blue and yellow and red cards. The rustle of cards was the only sound in the room. Ms. Dahdal, who moderated the discussion, walked around the classroom to motion to a student to add his thoughts to the discussion.

“I respectfully agree with you... I think we should let refugees come to our country because it represents who we are as Americans,” the student said.

That remarked fired up the class again. Ms. Dahdal selected another student to offer an opinion.

“I respectfully disagree on what you said about letting refugees coming to America,” the student said, as the debate – respectfully – continued.

“I want them to learn how to spark engaging discussions about the issues that are impacting the world they are living in,” Ms. Dahdal said after class.

Some of the students also spoke about the importance of discussions.

“I think politics is going downhill actually, because as the years progress, people are just thinking about themselves more instead of our country,” Devon Lewis said after class. “They’re supposed to be fighting for our rights and stuff and they’re talking about each other’s life and all the things that happened years ago.”

He added that the debate should have been brought back to the topics of racial profiling and the refugee crisis instead of the candidates’ own lives.

“Trump… I like his ways of thinking of making the people who have a lot of money pay for the safe zones, the borders. Hillary Clinton: I like her way of supporting people who are in need of help, just trying to give people a new life,” Devon said.

He has concerns about both candidates. If he could vote next month, Devon said he would not support either candidate.

Jeremy Maldonado, who is a Clinton supporter, said Mr. Trump is behaving “really childish.”

“Trump is all about business and Hillary Clinton is about freedom and respect and all the type of things that we need as Americans,” he said. “I think Donald Trump is not worthy of giving us the respect that we need for women, men and children and refugees.”

Adam Kahlaoui also said he would not vote for either nominee if he could vote in November. Adam said both candidates have to be “more mature.” He expressed concerns about Ms. Clinton because of the email scandal and said Mr. Trump’s plan for “immigration is going to be a failure.”

Jason Cabrera said that if he could vote, it would be for Hillary Clinton who “overall” would be “an effective president.” After looking into the plans from both sides, he said that he preferred Mr. Trump’s views on issues such as immigration and gun control and said Mr. Trump would be better at keeping the country safe.

“Donald Trump is being more realistic than Hillary Clinton and he’s showing that the U.S. is not a perfect Utopia,” said Jason.

During the discussion, eighth graders held color-coded cards. A red card stood for ‘I respectfully disagree with you.’ A green card meant ‘I agree with you.’ A yellow card signified ‘I have a question’ and a blue card meant ‘I haven’t spoken yet.’

Towards the end of the discussion, Ms. Dahdal asked her students to raise their hands if they have not spoken during the exercise. Later, those students had the chance to speak on the issues. The class cheered for one of their peers after he spoke. Ms. Dahdal said that he was usually very quiet and they were all happy that he contributed to the conversation.

The hardest part of the assignment was “getting all kids to feel comfortable enough to share their thinking in a world where they experience judgment often,” she said.

To research the issues, students used the Junior Scholastic news magazine, read the websites of the candidates, kept up with current events and watched documentaries, such as Little Boy Rescued from Rubble in Syria, to get a look at the refugee crisis.

Each student also received a piece of paper with a classmate’s name on it and secretly evaluated the student on his or her participation in the exercise.

While the eighth graders said they learned how to disagree with each other, the discussions have not taken on a hostile tone.

Adam said that instead of a difference of opinion becoming a divisive issue, the difference of opinion inspires him “to find more evidence to refute” a classmate’s position.

“We know how to handle ourselves and how not to disrespect each other and how not hurt people’s feeling by saying rude stuff to each other,” Devon said.

“We learned from our teacher…even though you could be excited, you could have, like, a real passion to say something, you still have to stay respectful and not be disrespectable to anyone else because that is not the right thing to do,” said Jason.

According to Ms. Dahdal, 18 students support Clinton, 11 would vote for Trump and three are undecided.

The New School For Leadership and The Arts, NSLA, MS 244, Kathy Dahdal, presidential debate, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Lisa Herndon

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