Think back to when you were a high school senior. What was on your mind back then?
- The Vietnam war?
- Whether drinking Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill was more adult-like than a Tequila Sunrise?
- Were you going to Homecoming?
- How were you going to sneak out of the house on Friday evening?
Fast forward to September 19, 2022, the eve of National Voter Registration Day: Chuck Greenfield and I wanted to know what today’s teens knew or thought about voting in a democracy. To that end, West Hawaii Explorations Academy’s Director Joe Greenberg welcomed us to his senior civics class, “Democracy,” where we piloted League’s Youth Voter Education initiative in this state-mandated class. Photo shows Chuck Greenfield and West Hawaii Explorations Academy Director Joe Greenberg.
Our primary learning goal was to incorporate League’s Vision of “Empowering Voters/Defending Democracy” through an interactive exchange with youth voters eligible to register or preregister to vote, and examine our fluid “freedoms” in a democracy in the context of past and present voting rights, voter suppression, and the importance of voting.
After a brief brainstorming session on the meaning of democracy, we engaged in a lively 45-minute exchange literally in the middle of this charter school’s open-air campus fronting the ocean located at the North Kona Natural Energy of Hawaii Authority. We divided our captive 26-student group into 3 small break-out groups, each of which was tasked with discussing and reporting out to the entire class:
- A brief history of voting in the U.S.;
- The role of voting in a democracy; and,
- What factors encourage or serve as barriers to voting.
The class responded with a great deal of participation and interest. Some students discussed how voting rights are not absolute (the impact of felony convictions, historical poll taxes, and voter ID requirements) and can be a source of discriminatory government action. Others discussed the need for voting registration/ballot materials to be in more than one language to ensure participation accessibility; and others brought up why it is important to vote.
Before we ended our lesson, we briefly discussed Hawaii’s voting eligibility requirements, and the upcoming General Election. Mr. Greenberg mentioned that a subsequent class session will focus on these topics, and welcomed our future inputs.
As we move forward, I would like to encourage our chapter members to work together to expand our Youth Voter Education activities in our other high schools. I have a lesson plan ready to go, so all we need to do is work with our secondary school contacts and make it happen!
Photo on left: Open-air classroom. The water tank behind Nina Eejima houses the school’s 2 resident sharks.
by Nina Eejima