Understanding the 2024 Election: A Student's Critical Thinking Guide to the Presidential Campaigns and Key Debates

Essential understanding is the key to preserving democracy.

Photo by Matthew Bamberg

Lights, Camera, Action: Essential Election 2024 Debate Insights
Comprehensive Election 2024 Resources for Parents, Teachers, Students, and Voters — Everything You Need to Know to Make…medium.com

Following up on a previous article (above), where I compiled a list of links to teach K-12 and adults to think critically about Election 2024, I now present a critical analysis of what’s at stake in terms of the rhetoric used by candidates, politicians, writers, and broadcasters.

Common Core Standards Associated with Democracy

CA Content Standards (CA Dept of Education)
Information on all subject areas.www2.cde.ca.gov

Essential in teaching and learning requires beginning the construction of lesson plans and units by assessing and implementing the Common Core Standards in the educator’s curriculum. For this discussion, I focus on teaching and learning about democracy and elections. The standards are linked above. 

Since there is a conundrum concerning the increasing virtual rhetoric used by many during the 2024 election season, teachers, parents, students, and administrators must proceed by considering the age and stage of intellectual and emotional development of the K -12 students for whom they are facilitating the instruction.