This is our catalog of courses. We will occasionally adjust the course listing to reflect the addition of new courses and the retirement of others.
Presented live every four years (in the presidential election year), this 6-week course helps your student understand and become involved with the fundamentals of our American elections. A practical, timely course helping your student know the importance of how to be a force for good in our republic.
Total classes: 6
Prerequisite: Basic knowledge of the American government
Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th
Suggested credit: 1/2 semester Government. For full credit, add another government course (live or recorded), or see our Government Reading List
Description
This 6-week course will explore the “ins and outs” of the American electoral process, with a special emphasis on the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election. We’ll begin class five weeks prior to the November 3rd election, with our last class a wrap-up, just days after we’ve elected a new president. (Well… hopefully we won’t have a repeat of the year 2000 “hanging chad” debacle or the 2020 disputed election.)
Outline
Week 1: Elections: Overview of Constitution & Laws
Week 2: Comparisons: Local v. State v. National Elections; Partisan v. Nonpartisan; Jungle Primaries; U.S. System v. other countries
Week 3: The Electoral College – Should It Stay or Should It Go?
Week 4: Anatomy of Campaigns: Operations, PACs & Super PACs, Polls & Pundits
Week 5: How Issues, Incidents & Outside Events Affect Campaigns
Week 6: Post-election Analysis – What drove the results? How accurately did we foresee the results? What are the implications of the results?
Materials and Homework
Course Materials: Provided free by the instructor or online.
Homework: Students will have a variety of “home work” assignments – reading, research, auto-graded quizzes, and short essays. Students are going to be STRONGLY encouraged to volunteer at least a couple hours of their time to any candidate or issue campaign of their choice during the 6-week period. A grading guide for parents to grade essays and assignments is provided below.
