The Tattnall County High School (TCHS) Current Events Class under teacher Dawn Rhoden stimulates considerable research by the students and taps into their critical thinking skills. This elective is open to all students, but, usually, the class is comprised of mainly juniors and seniors.
At the Monday, November 18, 2024, Board of Education (BOE) meeting, these students commented on their class discussions and study topics, with this year's class especially beneficial with a presidential election.
Junior Chad Irie began the presentation by discussing the variety of subjects the class covers - from international conflicts, sports teams, and medical breakthroughs, science and technology, to politics.
Chad went on to say, “I’ve been impressed with the way our class has handled controversial topics. We were able to share our thoughts and hear each other’s perspectives. I think we handled ourselves in a very respectful manner, and we learned from each other’s point of view.”
Several of the students shared that the class topics and research had significantly broadened their horizons in the area of government, international conflicts, and the role of the United States in the negotiations of these conflicts. The Middle East unrest and the war between Ukraine and Russia have been among their topics of discussion C. Maliyah Young, a junior, stated that she “most enjoys these topics, as they have made me more aware of the problems outside our country.”
The class prompts and encourages the students to consider more than one news source before forming their opinions on issues and an urging to avoid social media for their information.
This year, with the presidential election, the students followed the campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, studied their political differences and the various issues each espoused during their campaigns, the polls that were given in the media, and the electoral college.
Kasayah, a senior, said, “I enjoyed learning about the differences in the political parties and how they traditionally view the issues. I will be voting soon. I feel like I know where I stand on many issues now.”
Kasayah went on to say that she liked how students were presented both sides of issues without bias. According to Kasayah and several other students, when they asked Mrs. Rhoden about her opinion, she would immediately say, “It’s not important what I think. It’s important to figure out what YOU think!”
Students are now studying the transitional period and Trump's Cabinet choices.
“I intentionally waited until my junior year at TCHS to take the Current Events Class. I knew that the 2024 presidential election would be a huge focus in that elective. We began each day by tracking the candidates and their running mates on a huge map in the classroom. We added a red push pen for each state visited by a Republican and a blue push pen for each state visited by a Democrat. We were surprised at how many cities the candidates would visit in a 24-hour period,” said Coa Corbett.
They also looked at issues like the First Amendment on college campuses with a focus on the protests over the war in Israel/Gaza. They even tackled the issue of football injuries in youth sports. They researched current suggestions/ protocols for keeping young players safe.
“I’m so proud of what these young people have accomplished this semester. They approached controversial topics with the wisdom of people much older than them. They learned that people can respectfully agree to disagree – and that’s okay. There were days I was so impressed. I wanted to share our classroom discussion sessions on the nightly news so people across the country could see the hope that exists in our youth. Hopefully, this class is inspiring a life-long interest in current events,” Mrs. Rhoden commented.
