Every four years, the presidential election brings an atmosphere of anticipation across the nation. We can certainly feel the buzz of excitement here on campus as the big night inches closer. With debates between state representatives, booming campaign rallies and controversial speaker events, Madison seems to be an epicenter of civic engagement.

The same cannot be said for our younger peers in Wisconsin’s public schools. Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies president Sarah Kopplin recently said in an interview with PBS Wisconsin, that 42% of social studies teachers from the WCSS report that their district administration has placed restrictions on current events and election education.

Social studies teachers provide their students with insight into how citizens cast ballots, how votes are counted, how the electoral college works and more, according to Kopplin. But parents complain their students are being fed political ideology associated with partisan politics. To avoid controversy, many administrators are restricting any conversation regarding elections in the classroom space at all, Kopplin said.

It is an extremely dangerous act to keep younger students away from politics as they build the foundation of their post-secondary life. Preparing children for the world of polarized propaganda and deliberate misinformation without any tools to seek the underlying truth is a disservice not only to them but also to our civic process.

While parents’ concerns about political biases being transferred to impressionable students are important, Kopplin said social studies educators are not talking about partisan politics when educating students about elections. An unbiased education should not be swept under the rug in fear of controversy.

But, parents’ concerns and administrative restrictions are not the only obstacles to election education in schools. The majority of teachers who don’t talk about the election in their classrooms are not doing so on account of limitations from their supervisors, according to a survey by EdWeek Research Center.

Of teachers who consider the election to be relevant to the subject they teach, 40% responded that they are unsure of whether students can discuss the election respectfully and another 21% are uncertain about how to communicate the topic with their students, according to a survey by EdWeek.

These sentiments are understandable considering the heavy emotional weight many political issues carry. But, it is also pitiful that hate and division have seeped so far into society that even our youngest citizens’ ability to discuss elections civilly is compromised.

Of course, it is not only a teacher’s responsibility to promote peaceful and knowledgeable discussion amongst future voters — parents, social media and many other factors play an undeniable role in shaping political divisions amongst new generations.

But, classrooms are a fundamental playground for students, and they must promote peaceful conversation among peers and include election education in their curriculum plans. School districts should take these alarming statistics as a sign to step in and provide teachers with resources on how to educate students about elections.

Possible solutions already exist and must be expanded upon. Kopplin said she and hundreds of other educators attended “Teaching About Education,” a conference offered at UW. The conference provided teachers with curricula and resources on how to engage their students in the election process given the divisive nature of the topic, according to the university.

The UW School of Education provides many more sessions for educators, including a speaker event that will provide “step-by-step instructions” on how to run high school voter registration events at schools. The school even offers a workshop for teachers to learn how to navigate the emotional waters of politics and to help students collect their emotions when being taught about elections.

Such resources and examples can serve as a guide for teachers who are unsure of how to communicate with their students regarding the election, leaving little excuse for elections to not be included in curricula. School districts must also play their part in equipping their teachers with necessary resources.

One out of three secondary schools do not plan on hosting voter registration drives even though their students are eligible for pre-registration or even to vote in elections, according to EdWeek. School districts must do better in promoting a sense of civic responsibility in their students — the heavy responsibility cannot lie only on the already overburdened shoulders of educators.

At the end of the day, we can only expect civic engagement from adults if they’ve been educated about the democratic process and the great importance of an election from a young age. When our peers in primary school walk onto the UW campus one day, they deserve to know how to navigate the appealing words of political campaigns and speakers our university tends to attract.

For instance, if a student does not have a rudimentary knowledge of what the electoral college process is, they will also be more likely to fall for misinformation, such as our own former president’s announcement that the election is a “total sham.”

Education about elections in our public schools is invaluable so that we raise a generation of future voters dedicated not to the glamor and allure of politicians, but rather to the honest infrastructure of our democratic process.

Aanika Parikh ([email protected]) is a junior studying molecular and cell biology.