What I Learned from We the People

Today I got a glimpse into America's future.

Everyone take a deep, calming breath.

There's a new breed of citizen coming soon. Thoughtful, informed, compassionate, passionate, and unbiased—this new breed is what we all should be striving to be.

Basically, I realized every adult should try really, crazy hard to be like my eighth grade daughter and her We the People classmates (aka Weoples).

Seriously.

I'm not joking. I know I usually joke around. But this is for real.

Be like Weoples.

Today I attended the regional We the People competition in Indianapolis. My mind is reeling from the potential I just witnessed.

I'll try to describe a We the People competition, but know it's kind of in vain. It can't be done, at least not well.

Basically, there are six units of study—founding fathers, shaping of US government, constitutional convention, constitution, basic rights, and responsibilities of citizens (again, these are poor summations of each unit, because I'm apparently not as smart as I thought I was and you guys are suffering for it).

Each unit has five to six students assigned to it.

Each unit is given three questions (in depth, mind-bending questions that make me scratch my head and wonder if maybe my grasp of the English language is not as good as I may have believed).

The units work together before the competition to write a paper for each question, using extensive examples and factual evidence to back up their statements and opinions.

I cannot express how much work, dedication, and time the students put into these papers and understanding of their unit of study. Daughter never once complained about the homework. In fact, she looks forward to it because it is relevant and real-world learning. She'll put hours of work and thought into this homework because it is meaningful (let's all sit with that a moment—the glorious idea of meaningful homework).

At the competition, judges randomly select one of the three questions. Each unit must present their paper on the chosen question. And then comes the super tricky part, the judges get to ask them questions about their unit of study. Any old question they want. And the teens have no idea before hand exactly what they will be asked to speak about.

Y'all, I can't usually answer simple extemporaneous questions like, "What is your phone number?"

"Uh?" *pulls phone out and looks herself up in contacts*

But these teens...whoa. They are like question answering ninjas.

In answering the questions, the students have to be thoughtful, site examples, show their depth of knowledge on the subject, and remain calm under intense pressure. They have to take turns talking, not speaking over each other, and listen to each other's responses in order to properly respond in kind.

With what I saw today, based on breadth of knowledge, understanding of complex social and constitutional issues, and decorum, I have no qualms stating the following:

Any of the Weoples at Daughter's school would have pounded both presidential candidates at the debates this year.

Pounded them into the dust.

Two different judges, both lawyers, openly admitted that the students knew more Supreme Court cases than they did. And not only did the students know the case names, the judges could tell they'd debated, studied, and taken the time to understand how and why each case referenced is relevant today.

Three groups of judges were enjoying the conversations during the Q & A portions so much that they were visibly disappointed when the time was up for those rounds.

Judges asked them about safe spaces, political correctness (the right to be not offended), hate speech, changing or disbanding the electoral college, checks and balances, presidential overreach, and more—topics that a table of five adults would be hard pressed to discuss with civility and understanding.

But the Weoples had answers, thoughtful answers, answers that balance deliberation with emotion. And sometimes the best answer was I don't know, but I'll keep learning until I do. And they weren't afraid to say that, too.

Weoples answered questions today with grace and respect for each other, even when they had differing opinions. They listened to each other, conceded when an opposing student made a good point, and then used examples and facts to reaffirm their own choices.

Now I'm not naive enough to believe these teens started We the People with this much diplomacy. I know things get heated in class during their daily discussions on hot, often divisive topics (and then those debates carry over into a Weople group text that sometimes has over 600 new messages overnight). But in the three months they've had together this school year, they've learned that the King of the Mountain* does not have to be the person squashing the voices of others to get to the top.

In We the People, the King of the Mountain is the team that lifts and supports each other by listening and learning.

Maybe the biggest thing pushing these teens past the loud, flashy, one-sided arguments we see in the media so frequently and into a more genuine understanding of our government, with all its foibles and freedoms, is a shared goal.

To learn.

That shared goal is what allows Weoples not to just accept each other's opinions (hard earned opinions based on facts, study, and deep reflection), but to learn from them. When they can understand the roots of their divided opinions, then they can work together to find solutions.

Later in life, these skills will be invaluable as our nation continues to become more diverse.

As a parent, what I saw today made me crave more knowledge myself. I want to be as informed as my thirteen-year-old so I can enter the conversation with at least a fraction of the knowledge she has now.

I want to learn about and reflect on our country's history, not because my scary, slightly mentally unhinged high school history teacher is going to be handing out a grade on the information, but because I care— because our history is relevant to our present and imperative to our future.

Because the roles are woefully reversed here when our teens know more about the government than we do. When we're the ones running for office and casting the votes, and they are the ones with the real understanding of how America works.

We can do better. We must become a better breed of citizens—thoughtful, informed, compassionate, passionate, and unbiased.

We must be like Weoples.

Today's competition gives me hope. So much hope.

An entire school gymnasium was bursting with teens, from a variety of schools, who were really, truly, super pumped about our government, its roots, and the future they are determined to carve out for us.

So much hope.


*King of the Mountain is a weekly "mini-competition" the FJHS Weoples have, in which they present their ideas on a certain topic and compete against other units for which team has best supported, explained, and championed their position.