Contemporary Issues Class Brings Vote to Las Lomas
Contemporary Issues and Public Policy was a new class introduced to Las Lomas this year that isn’t a typical elective. Ms. Harvey and Ms. Wentner teach the class.
“It’s about issues in our society, globally and nationally. It’s about values and ethics, and different perspectives on a variety of things,” said Wentner.
The general topics of the class are as follows: morals, ethics, perspectives, constitutional issues, the U.S. presidential election, race and civil rights, crime and punishment, immigration and refugees, peace and security, the environment, and human rights.
This class isn’t just another day of notes and lectures.
“It’s very current. We can sort of react instantly to things that are happening, whereas in a lot of other courses, you’re locked into standards and benchmarks and content you have to cover in a certain time,” said Wentner.
Both teachers are excited to hear the different views and students talk about things that they normally don’t get to do in other classes.
“In the first couple weeks of school I was surprised at how much the students wanted to talk and just share their opinions, like they had been bottling up all these thoughts inside their brains and they now had a forum to let those out,” said Harvey.
Contemporary Issues and Public Policy was already a class at Campolindo and Acalanes. It is a district-approved class. The class only had to be approved by the department chairs and administrators at Las Lomas, which was approved sometime around mid-January. Contemporary Issues and Public Policy, a UC/CSU-approved class, is currently available to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
Jackie Leonard, a senior who takes the class, enjoys the new experience.
“I think it’s really great way of having kids look at things they probably wouldn’t otherwise in a non-historical background for it,” said Leonard. “There’s no real end goal but I don’t think that’s really a bad thing because then people have the flexibility to learn what they’re interested in and it makes it an overall more interesting class.”
Contemporary can be a new gateway to having new perspectives on things: “My goal here is that the students can leave the class with some skills in their tool box that when the issues do change they can take what they learned here and apply it to what they come across in the future,” said Harvey.
Tristan Adair, also a senior, texted about how thrilled he is to be a part of the new class: “Contemporary Issues is incredible! I’ve never seen my friends and classmates wholeheartedly express their beliefs with such enthusiasm like they do in Contemporary Issues,” said Adair. “Unlike the other classes I take, Contemporary Issues incorporates incredible student ideas into its educational framework.”
The class will definitely make an impact on the students who have taken it and plan to take it.
“Through Contemporary Issues, students will undoubtedly broaden their life perspectives and gain confidence that their individual voices can make a change,” said Adair.
Outside of the classroom, Contemporary Issues is doing activities to incorporate the entire school. On November 8, the class headed a school-wide mock election online, in the rally court, and in front of the big gymnasium.
“I think it’s super cool that this class is taking control about the election and making sure that it’s inclusive and that people can share their thoughts about it,” said junior Sophie Wise.
Students of this generation are constantly dependent on social media, so this is a way for them to learn about their environment locally and nationally, to be factually informed about each candidate’s policies and all the different propositions instead of being informed by the biased social media.
“I think our generation really falls back on social media for their political information rather than actually looking at the candidates,” said senior Adelina Chavez.
Not only is the mock election preparing students for real elections they’ll have to face in the future, it’s also informing the students on real life issues and facts. In the days leading up to election day, the mock-election brought about endless talk about the various propositions all over campus.
At Las Lomas, Hillary Clinton won for president.
