In this political cartoon the candidates are seen struggling with the economy.
The students in Devon Prep’s sixth grade US History class are not just learning about history, they are living it.
Each day their teacher, Ms. Genevieve Bosma, discusses the current presidential race with them. They’ve watched the presidential and vice presidential debates in class and they’re studying and researching the issues. Just recently they were challenged to put their thoughts and ideas into political cartoons. They rose to the challenge.
“I want them to know the story of this election. So we are making scrapbooks about this historic event,“ said Ms. Bosma. “They are collecting articles and other information. They really like the cartoons. They really respond to the visual interpretation of things.”
Ms. Bosma had some guidelines for their cartoons: nothing offensive, nothing sexist or racist, nothing mean spirited, no guns and they must have an adult take a look at it. “I told them they shouldn’t be afraid of people disagreeing with them, that’s what politics is all about. But clever doesn’t equal mean.”
Their cartoons were graded on how well the student understood the political concept he was portraying, how clearly he conveyed his point of view and the legibility of the text and graphics.
The students seemed to really enjoy the project. Although several issues were represented in the cartoons, the economy and Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin seemed to be most popular.
Andrew Shannon drew a cartoon of Sarah Palin in high heels and an evening gown, juggling several balls (identified as new baby, hockey mom, governor) in the air as John McCain throws her more. “She’s juggling all these things she has to do,” Andrew explained. “She’s the Queen of Multi-tasking.”
James Colleran used the word “change” as the inspiration for his cartoon. Titled “Don’t Let Obama Change Our Change!,” he drew a U.S. quarter with “quarter dollar” written on it, and another coin with Obama’s face and “eighth dollar” on it. James explained, “The quarter will be worth only 1/8 of a dollar if Obama wins because he wants to spend so much.”
Reflecting the current national crises, Vincent Freiberg depicted Obama and McCain on either side of a lion marked ECONOMY. The two candidates were both holding chairs and whips in an effort to tame the beast.
Tying into the most recent political news, Russell Emery drew a picture of a bald “Joe the Plumber” with Obama whispering “Taxes are good for you” in one ear, and McCain whispering “don’t listen to him, he’ll raise your taxes” in the other ear.
Jack Hegarty presented the two candidates as fighting each other instead of helping the country. In his cartoon two sixth grade Devon students wonder why the two men continue to put each other down when they should be fixing the economy.
According to Bosma, drawing the cartoons helped the students focus on the issues and the candidates’ plans. Joe Teti agreed, “You have to know what the candidates are doing so you can make it funny and clever.”
Joe Petras however saw another value in this project, “Newspaper articles can be boring. These are more fun,” he said. “Cartoons stand out.”
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
