Understanding democratic electoral process: a story
There was a documentary report about understanding democracy in the elementary school, City of Wuhan, Central China where eight-year old children compete for the position of Class Monitor (Class President). It started with an on the spot question to some children in school on the definition of democracy and the right to vote.
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The special report monitors the actual scene on how a teacher conducted her method of teaching on democracy particularly on holding of an election. Thirty (30) Class 1 Grade 3 children listened attentively when woman teacher in her late 40’s explained, “democracy is all about choosing your own master… making your own choice.” Then a teacher called up the three candidates in front of the class to present themselves as candidates for Class Monitor (Class President) election. The first candidate, a girl named Xiaofe (not her real name) stood in front. She is a daughter of a single parent. Her parent works as School Administrator. The second candidate is a smart boy named Mengmeng (not his real name). His mother is a police officer while his father is a director in a Police department.
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The teacher announced to the class that the Class Monitor election is a three-day event which includes a campaign period. There was no mention that parents should be involved in the activity but parents’ instict calls for involvement. Each candidate is also allowed to select two (2) assistants among their classmates during the campaign period. Their parents become their campaign and talent manager, election strategist and financier. The first day of the campaign started with presentation of candidates’ talent. A candidate named Mengmeng had influenced their classmates to shout, “poor performance!” to the first presenter, Xiaofe. Almost everyone shouted the words. As expected, the girl cried while her mother tried to appease her. Xiaofe, in another day, made another tactic to secretly talk her classmates. She also tried to influence her classmates to jot down all the weaknesses of another candidate named, Luomei. In one of the candidates’ speeches, Luomei focused his speech on Mengmeng’s promises to vote for him (Luomei) no matter what. However, as a candidate himself, Mengmeng had to inform him that he would lose his vote if he would support him. Luomei, with the support of his parents, invited the whole class to a free monorail ride so that he could also build relationship with his classmates. There was a point when the candidates themselves could no longer bear the negative tactics and strategies against the other candidates which made them almost give up. Their parents are considered first defense when they had felt the discouragement and hopeless to win the election. Their parent-strategists had talked to them every night as part of their motivation to win the election.
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The second day of the campaign was holding of a debate in a classroom. Issues of the debate focused on the candidates’ attitude, personality and how they have dealt with their classmates. Their teacher has given them all the freedom to express themselves. On the last day of the campaign, each candidate was given few minutes to convince on why their classmates should vote for her or him. The last candidate, Luomei, after his speech, distributed “festive” greeting card with free coupon to all his classmates. Then, the teacher announced the secret balloting. Please read the result of the election
