We the fifth graders

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With the constitution of the United States being interpreted in a variety of different fashions of late, two teachers at Tukes Valley Middle School in Battle Ground took it upon themselves to teach their students what it exactly says and why it’s important to understand.

After being introduced to a program called “We the People: the citizens and the constitution” — a James Madison Legacy Project program, funded by the Center for Civic Education — Linda Korum and Maria Antos, both fifth grade core teachers at Tukes Valley, decided to implement it in their own classrooms.

This led them to Federal Way last summer, where they completed a week-long, 50-hour course on We the People, which included them using the curriculum and holding a mock congressional hearing.

The two teachers pointed at the turbulent national election and the need for students to have a better understanding of their own rights as examples of why it’s important to learn about the Constitution at a young age.   

“We have a lot of students who are only hearing things passed down from parents — I noticed it a lot this election,” Antos said. “I want them to actually be able to make a stand on something for what they believe in.”

Korum mentioned the strong hunting culture in the district. She hears a lot of talk among her students that the government will take their family’s guns away.

She hopes, that through this program, the students will better understand what a drastic act of Congress and the executive office a movement of that magnitude would require.

“They don’t realize how much power Congress actually has — that it’s not just the president,” Korum said. “It’s good for them to understand the checks and balances.”



Korum and Antos also want their students to better understand their own rights; that even as fifth graders they have civil rights, and the ability to express themselves.  

“Even though they’re under 18, they still have rights,” Korum said. “We can’t just look through their backpacks.”

In regards to the effects the program will have, Korum pointed to a number of studies provided by the James Madison Project, including a survey of We The People in a 2000 American National Election Study that found that 82 percent of those who’d gone through the program voted in the election, opposed to only 48 percent among those who did not.

Currently, Korum and Antos are the only teachers in the Battle Ground school district using the program, but they hope to get others on board soon.

Given that the program is 40 hours of curriculum, the two teachers will be using it for both history and reading.

The students will go through practice simulations, where they are asked to speak on their specific topics of focus.

The program and the semester will culminate in a mock congressional hearing, which the teachers hope to have the mayor, principals and state legislators judge.   

The ultimate goal, Korum explained, is to not only teach the students what the Constitution says, but to put them in a position where they can understand what it’s like to be a member of Congress.