Academy Reintroduces its American Election Class

Every four years, The American Election course returns to the Academy curriculum as a first semester elective. Economics Teacher Beth Chase first taught the course in 2016, but she describes how the pandemic has caused major differences between the then and now elections: “The pandemic is going to change the way this election even plays out.”  

In addition to learning about COVID-19’s role, students will also learn the process of choosing the President of the United States and Florida’s role as a swing state while being able to draw statistics and examples from the present. 

Kailey McDonald (‘21) said, “Each student is given two states at random to keep track of during this year’s election so that we can report the facts back to our classmates. Even though I am too young to vote in this year’s election, I believe this class will teach me how the other states and how the election itself operates for when I finally am able to vote.”

Students are also engaging in meaningful discussions and are able to express their opinions during class, but are encouraged to be open to varying ideas as well.

“So far I am very pleased with the American Election class. At first, I was scared to join because I am not big on discussing political views due to the tension it creates, but Mrs. Chase is doing an amazing job at keeping this an unbiased class,” McDonald said.

This year’s election is both historic and controversial as debate surrounding key issues increases the tension, like McDonald said, between the Republican and Democratic parties.

I’ve heard stories like this from my constituents, too. We must protect @USPS. https://t.co/AIbDaYc0Si

— Dr. Barbara Bollier (@BarbaraBollier) August 27, 2020

Although a health crisis, COVID-19 has been thrust into the political arena where the wearing of masks has caused a divide between Americans, BBC News reports, despite the CDC recommending their use in public settings and when around people not in the same household. COVID-19 has also caused economic problems throughout the country. For example, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity announced Tampa’s unemployment rate increased by 6. 4% in July, and the “area private-sector employment decreased by 57,400 jobs (-4.7 percent) over the year.”

The United States Postal Service has, as of late, been in the limelight because, due to COVID-19, more Americans will vote via mail-in ballots than any previous election. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is set to testify to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Friday, Aug. 27, on the account that recent changes, such as “cutting overtime and limiting post office hours” and deciding to “stop taking letter collection boxes off streets in Western states,” will cause many votes to not be received on time. 

Cassie Hiatt (‘22) said, “Personally I do see the USPS controversy as a problem in this election, especially since COVID-19 is still a really big factor in millions of peoples lives. If the mail is slowed down, it’s more of a chance of votes not being received/counted on time. As a soon-to-be voter in a couple years, I would be very upset if I didn’t get to use my voice in government because of slowed mail services.”