Saville Middle School students explore politics in mock congressional hearings
No pens or pencils were required for these students' final exams, just a firm knowledge of the Constitution and a stomach for public speaking.
Every seventh-grader at Saville Middle School, 8101 N. Torrey Pines Drive, participated in mock Congressional hearings last month as an alternative assessment for their government classes.
Several 12th-grade government classes in the Clark County School District use a supplemental curriculum titled We the People and participate in statewide and national competitions. The format of the competitions is identical to what Saville hosted.
The We the People program is organized by the California-based Center for Civic Education, a nonprofit group that promotes law-related education.
Social studies teacher Stacey Warnick said Saville is the only middle school in the district to use the entire We the People curriculum during the school year and have Congressional hearings. This is Saville's sixth year teaching the curriculum, which comes from a separate textbook that students study along with their traditional government textbook.
"What this does is it goes into details about the foundations of our government," Warnick said. "We take that and go a little more in detail than the (textbook). We go deeper into it and expand on what's in the Constitution."
Warnick explained how Saville's seventh-grade government classes cover the same curriculum as other middle schools in the district, teaching about the early explorers up to World War II. But Saville teachers do not go into depth about certain ideas and events, such as moving West or the Battle of the Alamo.
Instead, they spend extra time on the formation and ideals of American government.
"We think it will lead them to be better citizens in the future," Warnick said. "We believe wholeheartedly that knowing about your government and becoming an informed citizen leads us to a better country."
To prepare for the Congressional hearings, students worked in groups of four or five for nearly a month preparing their arguments on an assigned topic. Students presented four-minute speeches for a panel of judges made up of parent volunteers, who asked them follow-up questions about their topic, including references to current events and how the Constitution applies to those events.
Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 224-5524.
