Teaching about the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton: A sampling of U.S. middle and high school teachers

Journal of Social Studies Research, Winter 2000 by Haas, Mary E, Laughlin, Margaret Ann

ABSTRACT

Middle and high school social studies teachers in 48 states were surveyed to learn if and how they taught about the impeachment of President Clinton. Those who taught about the impeachment felt confident in handling the material and were positive about the experience. Some expressed an obligation to students or a requirement to teach the topic as a necessity of being a teacher of social studies. Most who taught about impeachment stressed the process and legal concepts or made historical comparisons with previous presidential impeachments. Most teachers who chose not to teach about the impeachment did so because the topic was not related to the content emphasis of their course or because they believed the personal issues in the case were not appropriate for the age group they taught. Questions and implication for the social studies curriculum, current issues, and the media are discussed

Current events are authentic learning experiences for students at all grade levels. They are often emotionally laden and wrought with uncertainty. Many by nature unfold over time requiring both students and teachers to give special attention to the tentative nature of their information and to withhold their final conclusions and decisions until they have considered various perspectives.

The confronting of controversial issues as essential in social studies instruction has long been advocated. Perhaps the most referenced advocates were Maurice P. Hunt and Lawrence E. Metcalf who recommended that, "the foremost aim of instruction in high-school social studies is to help students examine reflectively, issues in the closed areas of American culture" (Hunt & Metcalf, 1955, 223). They devoted six chapters of their secondary methods book to identifying closed areas in social studies content. Not only did they advocate that every social studies teacher read a quality newspaper with a national circulation, but that teachers should try to make a quality newspaper available to their students. However, the traditional civics curriculum has continued to dominate along with its ignoring of controversial issues, conflict and dissent. (Avery, et.al. 1995, Engle and Ochoa, 1988). Many high school social studies classes in the United States included current events, but these practices and assignments varied widely depending upon teachers' emphasis. Research seems to confirm that when students report frequently discussing controversial issues, perceive that several sides of issues are presented and discussed, and feel comfortable in expressing their ideas in the classroom then there is a greater potential for fostering later civic participation than when such traits are missing from the classroom. However, the wider culture mediates the effects of classroom climate (Hahn, 1998).

One recent current event that engulfed the United States was the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton. For over half a year the world was bombarded with a daily array of accusations, spin responses, charges, countercharges, interpretations, legal analyses, denials, rumors, confessions, and commentaries in the media. Avoiding such a sustained media emphasis on the questions of impeachment was nearly impossible. The media also became engaged in public debate concerning its proper role. Media impact on the public was reported along with the results of the latest public opinion polls. Occasionally, the media reported on how social studies teachers were approaching teaching about the impeachment.

In a September 20, 1998 article Calvin Woodward writing for the Associated Press focused an article on the impact of the presidential impeachment debate on youthful learners. Among the educators he consulted were Princeton University historian Fred Greenstein who was quoted as saying "If anybody is going to put the nail into the coffin of the imperial presidency, it will be Bill Clinton. He's a reminder that politicians are human." He also quoted two well-known civic educators Herbert M. Atherton of the Center for Civic Education and Tedd Levy, the then current president of the National Council for the Social Studies and middle school teacher. Both addressed the impact of impeachment on students. Levy explained that, "Many adolescents use a finely tuned sense of justice and fairness to judge everything from world events to the contents of their school lunch Clinton's crisis appears to have set off that righteous trip wire for many.... I've heard comments like, `If he lied, everybody does it."' That's a very poor way to look at the world and it's a very adolescent way to make decisions, but it is widespread." (Levy later told the authors that he had also told the reporter that "Students were confused on what should be done and some excused it as `Everybody does it.'") Atherton's words on the lesson for the young and insecure were used as a summation of the article in which he reminded readers that, "ours is a government of laws, not men. That's our ultimate security."