Mock Caucus Rocks at McCombs Middle School
Students at McCombs Middle Schools consider the presidential contenders during a mock caucus exercise.
The caucuses are coming! The caucuses are coming! In case you haven’t heard.
Wednesday morning at McCombs Middle School, a mock version was staged in 7th grade Global Studies classes, an exercise that will serve to winnow the field of candidates for the school-wide presidential straw poll that’s scheduled for Friday morning. It was lively and spirited, two traits that are vital to a healthy democracy.
Teachers Beverley Mcpherson and Jake Wager coordinated the event. Students prepped for it with Iowa Caucus 101 in their enrichment classes. IC101 is a mini-curriculum developed by three DMPS high school teachers (Hoover’s Joseph Nydle, Lincoln’s Adam Arthur and Central Academy’s Canada Snyder) that’s available through the Iowa Secretary of State’s website. It teaches the basics of the caucus processes of both Iowa Democrats and Republicans.
Shall we cut to the chase? In the two morning periods Hillary Clinton won both of the Democratic caucuses which were held in Wager’s room. Next door, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson came out on top in Mcpherson’s Republican contests. More were planned for the last two periods of the day.
But the results were beside the greater point which is to train young citizens for civic participation. The students were reminded that whoever wins the real presidential election in November will likely stand for reelection in 2020 when many current McCombs students will be eligible to vote in the real McCoy, which reminds us that in the 2016 campaign, anyone who will be 18 by Election Day is eligible to participate in this year’s actual caucuses. That standard applies to many current high school upperclassmen.
The teachers noticed an interesting trend in the morning sessions.
“Even students who were leaning toward Republican candidates wanted to use the Democrat format,” said Mcpherson, “because it allows for more discussion and trying to influence others to change their minds.”
Wager wasn’t surprised. Without meaning to imply that Democrats are more adolescent than Republicans, he pointed out that “Kids at this age are noisy and boisterous. They really want to have it out.”
And so they did. The Democratic format was used by both parties. Wager said that when the lone backer of Martin O’Malley in his first period class was informed that by himself he didn’t meet the viability threshold he immediately went from loner to the most popular kid in the room. The Sanders and Clinton camps almost literally had a tug o’ war over him before he threw in with Bernie’s.
Mcpherson has a personal perspective that partially explains her clear enthusiasm for the upcoming caucuses. Like Wager, she is in her third year at McCombs. But she was born in Jamaica and only last week became an official American citizen when she passed her naturalization exam and took the oath of allegiance to the USA. Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status in the presidential election process is important to her.
“We stress to our students that only if Iowans take our responsibility seriously by informing ourselves and participating will we get to keep doing this,” she said. “Many of these kids come from households that aren’t politically active so we believe that by educating them maybe they will go home and get their parents to take an interest.”
Trickle up grassroots politics, you might call that model.
Gone are the days when the emphasis is on keeping students quiet in the classroom. Education, like citizenship in a democracy, is a vigorous business. And sometimes noisy, too.
Video of McCombs’ Mock Caucus
Photos of McCombs’ Mock Caucus
