The 2024 election cycle has seen the sitting president drop out of the race, one of the candidates prosecuted in a criminal trial and the second female presidential candidate on a major-party ticket. It is hard to imagine a better backdrop for teaching students about the American political process.
Yet many civics and history teachers say they are keeping current events out of their classrooms this fall. Some are skipping mock elections and debate-watch parties, while others are using historical rather than current examples to address topics such as immigration or vaccine skepticism. Others are teaching the importance of voting, without invoking candidates or political parties.
“What I’m seeing is everything from, ‘This is too hot, I can’t touch it,’ to, ‘These issues are too important for me to not take a stand,’” said Eric Soto-Shed, a lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education who trains teachers and develops civics and history curriculum.
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Eighteen states have enacted policies in recent years defining how schools can teach subjects related to discrimination, race and gender, according to an Education Week tally. Teachers say those policies have made them unsure about election-related lessons.