Briefs · Education and Upskilling
How Teachers Are Turning the Midterms Into a Nonpartisan Civics Lesson
The midterms are days away, and teachers are turning them into a live civics lab. The lesson is not whom to vote for. It is how the whole machine works.
More than half of 14- to 22-year-olds think their opinion does not matter to elected officials, according to a UNICEF USA and Harris Poll survey. Yet intended participation among eligible young voters has risen 15 points since 2024, from 47 per cent to 62 per cent. Young people are eager to participate, the survey says, while feeling institutions are failing to include them.
So teachers are meeting them halfway. In New York, Pat Sprinkle’s students adopt a competitive race in another state, research the candidates, predict the result and teach the class about it. In Iowa, eighth-graders take a mock poll on candidates’ positions — with the party labels stripped out. In Indianapolis, fifth-graders elect a class president. In Illinois, Kevin McCleish frames politics as a contest for power, using redistricting in Texas and California as his examples.
The research backs them. Tufts University finds civics education improves voter engagement without pushing students towards any party. And it is needed: under 30 per cent of 18-year-olds are typically registered for midterm elections.
Conclusion: the classroom is not a polling station, but rather a practice run — a polite, patient rehearsal for a democracy that needs its newest voters.
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