Boothbay Region High School

Of politics and persuasion

Tue, 11/11/2014 - 11:30am

Which of the three candidates for Maine's governorship, given his experience and political ideology, is most qualified to help improve Mainers’ quality of life in the areas of jobs and wages, education, health care, energy and the environment?

That was the question decided by Maine voters on Nov. 4. it was also the question juniors at Boothbay Region High School being taught by Mr. Mark Gorey sought to answer in a spirited political debate as part of their language class.

But these students didn't voice their own views — rather, they each were randomly assigned a persona they had to act out during the debate.

For the AP class, students were Sam Betts as Senator Olympia Snowe, Angela Machon as Mike Michaud, Hannah Morley as a public school teacher, Kate Friant as an elderly welfare recipient, Gretchen Elder as a representative of The Maine Heritage Foundation, Joseph Paolillo as a representative of The Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club, Gabe Purin as a small business owner, Camden Spear as the CEO of L.L. Bean, Nick Gorey as Gov. Paul LePage, Meghan Oakes as a home health aide, and Lisa Pawlowski as Eliot Cutler.

“It's important that students are introduced to these real topics and issues while they are still young,” Gorey said. “We don't have an American Government class, and in a year or two, these students will be old enough to vote. They need to learn about issues, both national and local, now. The students learned about the different political parties and what they stand for.”

On Oct. 30 and 31, the students made their opening statements as to whom they supported in the election and why. After the statements, the students and panel asked clarifying questions. On Nov. 3, 4 and 5, after the final two opening statements were heard, the panel launched into a debate where students came up with questions about education, jobs, wages, etc. and had to answer in character.

The students were graded in three parts: the essay they wrote prior to the debate; their opening statements; and the Q&A session.

Helping Gorey with the debate were members of the Rotary club Bill Bailey, Skip Krehling and Vick Taylor, who consulted with students on their opening statements and took extensive notes during the debates to help Gorey decide on winners.

“Around Oct. 20, the students met with Rotarians to discuss their opening statements,” Gorey said. “They are great about volunteering their time for this one-on-one time.”

Also helping with the debate as moderators and technology issues were Carol McKenna, Barbara Greenstone, Kerrin Erhard and Bill Haney.

In the AP class, the two winners of the debate were Gretchen Elder and Nick Gorey. In second place were Hannah Morley and Camden Spear. In the other class winners were Jaime Wheeler representing Mike Michaud and Matthew Burnham representing The Maine Heritage Foundation, and second place went to Gabrielle Ericson-Wenners, who was the public school teacher.

“All the students did a fantastic job,” Gorey said. “The winners did the best job at using facts and logic in their arguments and being persuasive.”

“We made sure to talk to each student individually after the debate on what went well and what needed work,” Gorey said.

The three-part assignment counts for around 30 percent of each student's grade. As it was such an involved assignment, the students had over a month to prepare.

“The students this year had a little less time than previous classes,” Gorey said. “I wanted the debate to dovetail with the actual election.”

“This debate taught students a valuable life skill, being persuasive as a writer and speaker,” Gorey said. “They had a warm-up earlier in the year, writing a persuasive writing piece on whether or not the Redskins should change their names or not.

“This issue is, of course, both national and local.”

Next semester's class will also participate in a debate assignment, but Gorey is still deciding what that debate will be about.