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We seem to be living through high-drama moments of a soap opera, with characters and surprises from both sides of the political aisle, but the stakes are our democracy instead of Luke marrying Laura on General Hospital.
Now combine this context with being in middle school or high school student and wanting to learn to interpret the world around you. Today’s world is a very chaotic and confusing: What is truth? What information is trustworthy? Who is right?
No matter where one stands on the issue, it feels safe to agree that the Trump impeachment inquiry is divisive. After all, impeachment is a fundamentally political process.
Despite the political thorniness, it would be educational malpractice to avoid teaching about impeachment within our schools right now.
Teaching about this moment in history — as it happens — embodies the ideal that the purpose of our education system is to create good citizens. And I will go so far as to say that our education system will have failed today’s students if we do not take action and, instead, rely on pundit analysis to shape their thinking.
We owe it to today’s students (who are tomorrow’s voters) to equip them with the facts about the constitutional process of impeachment. Much like any other topic that is learned in school, they need access to historical facts from impeachments past, an understanding of the constitution, and a primer in current legislative process in order to make their own judgement.
About two years ago, I observed a lesson about the Nixon impeachment process. The students were learning to interpret primary-source documents and first-hand interviews to recreate the web of facts that led investigators to uncover the truth behind the Watergate break-in. This is one example for helping students understand and evaluate what’s happening today.
By equipping today’s students with information about the process of impeachment, they can start to become the citizens our education system aspires for them to be.
While by no means an exhaustive or fully representative list, here are some places to get started for designing a lesson relevant to today’s news events:
