{"id":22072,"date":"2019-11-18T14:04:03","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T19:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=22072"},"modified":"2019-11-18T14:04:04","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T19:04:04","slug":"discuss-impeachment-in-high-school-but-not-only-impeachment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/?p=22072","title":{"rendered":"discuss impeachment in high school–but not only impeachment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As impeachment dominates the headlines, many social studies teachers are assigning it as a topic<\/a> of discussion and analysis in their classrooms. That is appropriate. Since students and their families are already discussing impeachment, it is a great \u201chook\u201d for teaching about the US Constitution and the media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students should learn how to analyze the issues of the day, and impeachment is a leading current example. If young people learn to make sense of impeachment\u2014to understand the rules and institutions, select reliable news sources, and assess diverse opinions\u2014they will be able to process current events for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impeachment debate is also an opportunity for discussion in\nclassrooms. A moderated conversation can model respect for facts and\nalternative views much better than the polarized and often superficial debates\nin the national media. As such, it can impart skills and values that are in\nscarce supply today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, the immense attention given to impeachment reflects\ndeficits in our civic life. Although impeachment may be one good topic of\ndiscussion in a social studies classroom, it should not be allowed to dominate\nor convey the impression that all politics is like impeachment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Americans perceive politics as being a struggle between powerful\npoliticians in Washington, DC. Impeachment is a perfect example of this kind of\npolitics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local and state-level journalism is near collapse; about half\nas many people<\/a> work in newspaper newsrooms today as in 2008. But the national\nnews media<\/a> still draws huge audiences, particularly for commentary on\nnational issues. Impeachment is just the kind of issue that plays best on cable\nnews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Americans identify strongly with political parties and often seem\nto act like fans of one party against the other. Impeachment is polarized on\npartisan lines, with almost all Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National political leaders increasingly resemble celebrities\u2014none\nmore so than the current president, who was a celebrity for forty years before\nhe ran for office. He is at the heart of the impeachment case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the issues that draw the most attention are often the\nones that give ordinary citizens the least<\/em> to do. Impeachment is\nbasically a matter for 535 members of Congress and the President and his staff.\nFor everyone else, impeachment might be one factor that influences their vote\nin 2020, but most voters have already made up their minds for or against Donald\nTrump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Tufts political science colleague Eitan Hersh describes \u201cpolitical hobbyism\u201d<\/a> as \u201cconsuming and participating in politics by obsessive news-following \u2026, \u00a0by feeling the need to offer a hot take for each daily political flare-up, by emoting and arguing and debating.\u201d He cites survey evidence that political hobbyism is extremely common, consuming two hours of every day for millions of Americans. Impeachment is a perfect issue for political hobbyists: every day\u2019s headlines offer new fodder for opinions and emotions, but there is little actually to do. I would add that political hobbyists love to forecast elections and predict the results of today\u2019s news, not to change<\/em> the results by organizing. (I know this from personal experience, having some unfortunate hobbyist habits myself.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The factors that make impeachment the dominant news story\ntoday\u2014partisan polarization, a national storyline, celebrities, limited\nexpectations for citizens, and appeal to political hobbyists\u2014also prevent other\nissues from receiving the attention they deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, last week, in the city where I live (Cambridge, MA), a\nnew council was elected. The main issue was affordable housing, which had\ndivided the previous council. This issue matters to students in Cambridge\nschools. Some come from families that face rising rents and could be forced out\nof town by gentrification; others could see their families\u2019 wealth diminish if\nmore affordable housing is built. Reasonable people who care about affordable\nhousing disagree about the best solutions. The debate is heated and polarized, although\nnot partisan in a city dominated by Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each vote really matters in this local election with 22\ncandidates and only about 20,000 voters<\/a> (about 24% of adult citizens). And\nthere are other ways, apart from voting, for residents of all ages to influence\nthe city\u2019s housing stock. People can volunteer to build homes with Habitat for\nHumanity or bike to work instead of driving to address the parking shortage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the Cambridge council election received little coverage. No\none has published an analysis of the impact of the recent election on the main\nissue, affordable housing. Even if social studies teachers in Cambridge Public\nSchool wanted to focus on the council election and the issues at stake, there\nwould be no professional journalism they could assign as readings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With these considerations in mind, I would make the following\nrecommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social studies teachers should<\/em> address impeachment, if only\nbecause teenagers will discuss it anyway, and students should be challenged to\napply rigorous thinking and reliable information. But impeachment should not be\nthe only issue they discuss during this academic year. It would be wise also to\nselect other issues that are more local or otherwise offer more for students to\ndo. These issues may also be less polarized or less partisan than impeachment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While discussing impeachment, teachers should raise not only\ndetailed issues about rules and processes in the US Congress but also broader\nand deeper questions: What is the rule of law? Why is power separated among\nbranches of government? What does \u201cdue process\u201d mean in a criminal trial, and should\nsimilar norms apply in impeachment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An issue that interests me is the role of judgment in politics.\nImpeachment is not the straightforward application of law, because the Framers\nintentionally gave Congress the power to decide what should count as a \u201chigh\ncrime or misdemeanor.\u201d Cynics would say that if impeachment is not determined\nby law, then it is simply an exercise of power by partisan politicians, who\nwill demonstrate bias and vote according to their political self-interest. But\ncan responsible politicians exercise judgment (as opposed to bias), and what\ndoes that look like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impeachment is an opportunity to understand the intentional design\nof the US Constitution and the principles that undergird it, such as separation\nof powers. Studying impeachment may therefore increase appreciation for the\nConstitution. At the same time, an intellectually serious study of impeachment\nraises critical questions about our founding documents. What should we conclude\nfrom the fact that no president has ever been impeached in the House and\nconvicted in the Senate? Or the fact that the last president to be impeached,\nBill Clinton, saw his popularity rise and paid no tangible price? Is\nimpeachment useful? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More generally, are checks and balances working now that the\nparties are fully polarized, with no conservative Southern Democrats or liberal\nnortheastern Republicans ready to vote with the other party? The Framers\nobjected to the very idea of parties and might have expected a polarized\ntwo-party system to destroy their design. As the late Juan Jos\u00e9 Linz of\nYale noted<\/a>,\nno other system with a separately elected president and legislature has\nsurvived when the branches belong to different parties. Are we heading for\ndysfunction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, impeachment is a topic for deliberative discussion in\nclassrooms that can impart worthy values and skills. But whether and how it works\nfor deliberation may depend on context. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the deep polarization of the American public, students in\nsome classrooms may hold unanimous opinions either for or against impeachment.\nIn those cases, teachers should introduce alternative perspectives through\nreadings and other sources. One goal is to break down stereotypes about the\nother side in the national debate. Liberal students should understand that not\nall opponents of impeaching President Trump are his enthusiastic supporters; some\nhave concerns about the process. And conservative students should learn that some\nproponents of impeachment are conservatives who are concerned about the rule of\nlaw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other classrooms, opinion may be split, and then it is\nimportant to create a context for thoughtful, respectful\ndiscussion\u2014deliberation more than debate. As national leaders model\npoint-scoring, name-calling, blatant partisanship and self-interest, selective\napplication of facts and principles, and mutual disrespect, we should expect\nmore from our students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As impeachment dominates the headlines, many social studies teachers are assigning it as a topic of discussion and analysis in their classrooms. That is appropriate. Since students and their families are already discussing impeachment, it is a great \u201chook\u201d for teaching about the US Constitution and the media. Students should learn how to analyze the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocating-civic-education","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22072"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22074,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22072\/revisions\/22074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlevine.ws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}