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Former Governor Ed Rendell was greeted by a welcoming committee, four students and lifelong educator, Anne Spector, as he climbed the stairs at the entryway of Edwin M. Stanton Elementary School, 1700 Christian St., Friday. As part of his wife’s mission while she served as Pennsylvania’s first lady, Judge Marjorie Rendell initiated a program that would stoke civic engagement and knowledge.
Last fall, the federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, along with her husband and Arcadia University, with support from the National Constitution Center, challenged fourth and fifth graders with an essay contest. The question posed was: “The Constitution requires that a person running for president must be a natural citizen, meaning they were born in this country. Do you think this should be changed?”
There were over 160 entrants from the five-county Philadelphia area, and the top-10 essay-writers (and their respective classes) were invited to the Independence Mall-based site to present and defend their ideas. One school was awarded a $1,000 check for first place, while three schools were awarded $500 for second through fourth places. Joan Williams’ fourth grade class at the South of South institution got fourth place and a special in-school meeting with the former governor.
The 33 students that filled Williams’ classroom were thrilled for the visit and had prepared extensively for his arrival.
Before Gov. Rendell’s arrival, she asked her class questions about which issues the president of the United States should be most concerned. The answers were alarmingly mature and thought-out: “Bullying,” “Guns,” “Drugs and alcohol,” and “Education” were all suggested.
When Rendell arrived, the students were noticeably pumped but kept their composure and let their distinguished guest speak on the nature of the project before opening the room up to questions. But before he started speaking, soft-spoken Audrey Ford, the winning essay-writer, stood in front of the class and clearly articulated Rendell’s accomplishments and offices fulfilled.
“I got elected governor in 2002 and I began serving in 2003,” she said.
“Were any of you alive in 2003?” Rendell joked. Only some raised their hands.
He went on to explain that the civic concept was a term-length project orchestrated by the Keystone State’s former first lady, not unlike Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign to address obesity.
“She wanted to make sure that our young people, from K through 12, learned about the Constitution, our government and learn how important it is to participate in government and politics,” he explained. “She formed something called PennCORD.”
PennCORD is “a coalition of state organizations committed to implementing in every Pennsylvania school the six classroom and extracurricular approaches to civic learning recommended in the Carengie Corporation’s Civic Mission of Schools Report (2003).”
The Pennsylvania Bar Association, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Rendell were the project leaders.
During his visit, Ed Rendell shared his explanation of the challenge question with his eager listeners. As it were, the majority of the students and Rendell agreed: The president need not be native-born.
“For example if someone is born in Canada, that person is not eligible [to become president],” he said. “Do you know who Arnold Schwarzenegger is? The [former] governor of California. But he was born in Austria, and he was not eligible to run for president. When I was elected Governor in 2002, Jennifer Granholm, the governor of the State of Michigan was born in Canada. Her family moved to the United States when she was 3.”
Meeting Anne Spector, a Center City resident and lifelong educator, at an Educators’ Night Out at the Constitution Center helped Williams set the foundation for the civics project. Spector downplayed her role, but confessed that the museum calls her their literary expert: “Who knows?,” Spector joked. “I believe that reading is your first freedom, and I’m going to use books everywhere because they’re our entries into everything.”
They struck up a friendly conversation about curriculum, and Williams expressed an interest in working more social studies into her classroom’s activities. With the focus of elementary classrooms often so oriented to math and reading because of standardized testing, Williams eagerly invited Spector to her classroom.
“I think that from when Anne came in and did a pre-lesson, and I piggy-backed on what she taught,” Williams explained, “we talked about democracy and the constitution, and the qualifications for president, and we had really meaningful classroom discussions before they even wrote their essays.”
Spector helped create the book lists used in some PennCORD-driven civic-interested classrooms. She believes books can help students approach rich and deep topics without fear.
“We use [the book list] as a foundation and my feeling always is that really good literature meets them where they are and introduces complex topics,” she said.
Spector also helped Williams’ students prepare for giving their heir presentation in front of the Rendells and representatives from Arcadia and the Constitution Center, before hundreds of their peers. Their presentation imagined a Goldilocks scenario where Goldilocks was in a foreign land. She admitted that her nerves were greater than Williams’ students’ on the big day: “I was nervous – they weren’t.”
Williams’ pride was nearly overwhelming on that day. And even though her students were maybe a little too preoccupied with the fact that they didn’t get first place, they could tell, through their teachers’ reaction, that it was a big deal.
“I was just bowled over because I was so proud of them. And then they had a question and answer period, but they were really well-spoken, and they defended their position,” Williams said.
“At first I saw that they were a little disappointed that they got fourth place, but I was like ‘FOURTH PLACE! Yeah!’” Williams added. “When they saw that big check they kind of brightened up. And when they saw me almost crying.”
The students will receive a 27-title civics library with a DVD, plus, perhaps most exciting to the pupils, a medal for each student. Both Spector and Williams hope to keep their thirst for knowledge and civic excitement kinetic by introducing a mock trial exercise.
“We were talking about giving them some kind of mock trial experience,” Williams said. “With lawyers, jurors, presenting a case, bringing the law into the case and having a real judge hear the kids argue the case.”
Contact Staff Writer Bill Chenevert at bchenevert@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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