How important is politics to students at the local high school? According to the senior government class in Italy, elections are a priority and according to teacher, Coach Steven Coleman, life lessons are to be learned as well.

As 7th through 12th graders tried to vote this week, they were told, “If you are not registered, you cannot vote,” by one of the government class poll workers. This is what an adult would really hear if they tried to vote unregistered in their precinct during an actual vote. Just like the real thing, Coach Coleman ran the election with the same parameters. He said, “I realize that not having a ‘real’ election to tie into, like the mock election we held last year during the election for President, is a bit tough, but the objective is to teach students that you must be vigilant in taking advantage of your opportunity to vote. Unless you do there is no telling what will be voted for.” Because there was not a person to vote into office this time, there were issues to vote for instead-similar to the upcoming vote in November. “Instead of voting for candidates the Government class has created a list of topics that students will be voting for or against,” Coleman said. They included:

• Should the law be changed from 16 to 18 for driving? Result NO, overwhelming by 42 votes
• Should kids be considered adults at 18? Result YES, won by 45 votes
• Should texting while driving be illegal? Result YES, only by 2 votes
• Should the tobacco age be moved to 21? Result NO, won by 15 votes
• Should we raise minimum wage? Result YES, overwhelming by 40 votes

• What do you think about President Obama’s time in office so far?
  Results in order of preference:

The worst by far
Not bad and I don’t care tied
Best president ever
Pretty good president

The results are very interesting. Coach Coleman explained that with every result there are consequences and affects different areas of our life. “For example, if we raise the minimum wage, of course, there are more taxes to pay but more importantly, we would see the teenage workforce decline. Businesses would not hire the teenager because it would not be cost effective and more money would be spent on training in the long run.” Coleman is trying to teach cause and effect with voting. The students are excited about this endeavor and really tried to run the voting efficiently and accurately.