Election memories

[packinpatland]

I remember when I was in 2nd grade. My family was living in AZ, my grandparents from WS were visiting. The morning after the election my mom woke me up for school and said 'Kennedy won, but let's not mention it around Grandma and Grandpa'.

Any others have childhood memories?

[oregonpackfan]

I can remember the nuns at St. Joe's Grade School in Rice Lake telling us students "Be sure to tell your parents to vote for John Kennedy. We need a Catholic in the White House!"

In the modern era, if I as a modern day public school third grade teacher. had advised my students to tell their parents to vote for a particular candidate, all kinds of legalistic hell would have broken loose!

No, I never "coached" my students on voting choices. I did not even share with them whom I voted for. My response when they asked me was "My job as a teacher is not to get you to vote for the same person I voted for. My job is to begin developing your critical thinking skills so that you can make informed, intelligent choices when you are old enough to vote."

[Badgerinmaine]

My political science students all know that I got hooked on politics when I was 5. That year, Cheerios had clip and save pictures of presidents on their boxes, and Kleenex had a collector's set of campaign button reproductions (of Stevenson, Eisenhower, JFK, Hoover, etc.) I was extremely impressed and got fired up about presidential elections and have been ever since!

[hoosier]

I was in fourth grade when Carter beat Ford, and barely old enough to have been able to follow the Watergate scandal. I was reasonably happy that Carter won, but I have a vivid memory of going to school the next day and, when our teacher asked us what we thought of the elections, one of my fourth grade classmates said that when she woke up and heard that Carter had won she threw up. Threw up!?! How on earth does a fourth grader learn to puke when her team loses?