Talking about politics can be stressful, even in the best circumstances — and moderating a class full of teenagers, all with different backgrounds, news sources and levels of political knowledge, in a historic election year is generally not ideal circumstances.  

Teachers across the country are facing decisions on how to talk about elections in an increasingly polarized world. In Wisconsin, there are a lot of factors that may influence that decision, from district policies to heightened division to teachers’ individual comfort with the subject.

Wisconsin standards require teachers to discuss voting. Starting in third grade, standards state students should learn about citizens’ role in government and elections. By sixth grade, they’re starting to learn about political parties and interest groups, and by ninth grade, students are putting together the pieces of partisanship, societal interests and voting. 

But with politics becoming increasingly contentious, the question remains: How should teachers address this year’s election in the classroom? 

In the Howard-Suamico School District, teachers don’t shy away from the debate. Having civil discourse in classrooms is a way for students to learn to think critically and engage with their community, said Howard-Suamico curriculum and development coordinator Krista Greene.  

“Our staff is always looking for ways to make sure that, regardless of what’s going on in American society, we’re equipped in our classes to deal with those things that may be perceived as contentious out there,” Greene said. “We make them not contentious. We boil it down to the facts.” 

Students learn to articulate their ideas in different types of discussion methods, such as Socratic seminars and fishbowl discussions. Some teachers provide sentence starters, which can make it easier for students to express complex viewpoints. 

The district wants to develop civically minded students, Greene said. While teachers contact parents before bringing potentially contentious issues into the classroom, they also explain why that discussion is important. 

“Students learn best when they know that the skills and knowledge that they’re learning are going to be applicable in their lives. And what could be more applicable than learning how to be a citizen?” Greene said. “There’s never a ‘why do I need to know this’ factor about government.” 

Jennifer Morgan, a 31-year teacher in West Salem in western Wisconsin, generally uses elections to teach about media literacy. But she avoids getting too in the weeds about politics: It’s not worth it, particularly now that people are so divided on historical facts, she said.  

The important thing to her is that students learn to support their opinions with facts. She talks to her students about using diverse sources and walks them through how propaganda and biased information have been used throughout American history. 

“You can say that candidate X is the best candidate, but they can’t say ‘because my mom and dad said so,’” Morgan said. “Don’t just tell me, ‘this is what Vice President Harris says.’ Say, ‘OK, where did you get that, and why is it important to your argument?’”

Morgan is president of the National Council for Social Studies. This year, she said, she and many council members may avoid discussing the election at all. For Morgan, it’s too early in the school year for her students to feel like her classroom is the safe space she’d need it to be for a topic like this, she said.  

Morgan’s school doesn’t have policies preventing her from talking about the election. But for other teachers, lesson plans may not be allowed to go beyond the basics, as some districts do restrict how teachers can discuss controversial issues like the election in the classroom. 

Do school policies restrict how teachers talk about elections?

The Madison Metropolitan School District allows teachers to discuss controversial issues as long as they do what they can to keep bias and prejudice out of the classroom. In the Kenosha Unified School District, teachers can discuss these issues if parents are notified. Milwaukee Public Schools has no controversial issues policy in place.  

Policies differ in the Green Bay area. In the Green Bay School District, teachers are strictly limited to the curriculum; while they can discuss elections, they’re not teaching about the 2024 election. The De Pere School District and Ashwaubenon School District both allow teachers to discuss controversial issues in the classroom, as long as they’re related to the subject being studied and appropriate for students. 

Wisconsin students aren’t required at the state level to take a government class. Some districts may have their own requirements, or government classes may be offered as an elective, but that lack of a state requirement can prevent students from learning about government itself, much less discussing and understanding current political events, said Jeremy Stoddard, a professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a researcher in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

How Wisconsin schools handle the election is often based on the local community, Stoddard said. In these partisan local communities, teachers are more likely to focus on political theory or related issues like Morgan’s media literacy lessons than issues that may lean partisan. 

“They’re sort of avoiding some of the national political rhetoric, focusing it on, what are the issues that you know that folks stand on? Because in some cases, they’re not actually that far apart,” Stoddard said.

Helping teachers to address controversial subjects

Stoddard recently hosted a conference for teachers focusing on how to discuss election-related issues in the classroom, and where they can access outside resources to help.

One way that districts might skirt criticism while still discussing politics is by using university or PBS materials. One example of those materials is Stoddard and his team’s own PurpleState, a free curriculum where students simulate working in a communications firm for a state political campaign. It’s meant to help them understand politics and political communication at the state level, where students may be able to have more of an impact in their real lives. 

Engagement is what’s important, Stoddard said, and focusing on election partisanship can make people tune out. The challenge teachers face is to find their way around that — and to do so while balancing district policies, concerned parents and political misinformation. 

“(The goal is) to find ways to engage people meaningfully in something like an election, which should be an event that we revere as a democratic institution and peaceful transfer of power,” Stoddard said. “I think it shouldn’t be this challenging to do it, but that’s the current sort of partisanship that we’re in.”

Contact Green Bay education reporter Nadia Scharf at nscharf@gannett.com or on X at @nadiaascharf.

This story is part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab’s series covering issues important to voters in the region.

Elections can be polarizing. How are Wisconsin teachers bringing them into the classroom? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.