Gubernatorial recall comes to local classrooms

Ryan Carter

Clark Magnet High School teacher Nick Doom has devoted two walls of

his classroom to the Oct. 7 recall. As the historic special election

date looms closer, cartoons, posters and bumper stickers are building

up on the walls. They are not just adornments -- they bring the real

world into the classroom.

The recall movement and its special election have become a tool

for local government teachers during civics lessons. From Glendale

Unified School District government classes to political science

courses at Glendale Community College, the possible recall of

embattled Gov. Gray Davis has become a way of studying the

differences between a representative democracy and direct democracy

-- the difference between the rule of elected officials and the rule

of the electorate. Televised debates among the gubernatorial

candidates have become ways to go back and look at what the founding

fathers envisioned for the nation.

“We talk about it every day,” Doom said of the recall.

Doom’s classroom has become a world devoted to the teaching of

government, with the recall as the center of attention. A written

countdown on a chalkboard records the days remaining until the recall

election.

After the Sept. 24 debate at Cal State Sacramento between actor

Arnold Schwarzenegger, author/columnist Arianna Huffington, state

Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), Green Party candidate Peter

Camejo and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, Doom’s class became an exchange

of ideas on the recall, one as lively as the debate itself. Doom had

asked his students to watch the debate, pick answers to questions and

then summarize why they agreed or disagreed with the candidates.

Along with videotape from the debate, the discussion prompted

smiles, laughs and arguments from the students, who, through a show

of hands, thought that Camejo won.

They also agreed that the recall has invigorated their interest in

what can often be a drab subject.

“The fact that it has come so far shows how serious the issue is,”

said Liya Arushainyan, 17.

Christina Pilipossian, 17, expressed concern over the recall

initiative.

“I’m totally for it, but I’m worried that the electorate will

never be satisfied, and that maybe we could do it again,” she said.

“Everyone’s going to disagree with who is governor, and there will

never be stability.”

The students agreed that the issue is a perfect opportunity to

learn the mechanics of government.

“I can guarantee that every one of our state and local government

instructors is going to be talking about the recall because it is a

way of engaging students in the actual politics of our system and how

they operate in the real world,” said Roger Bowerman, chairman of

Glendale Community College’s Department of Social Sciences.

At least one of Bowerman’s colleagues, Mona Field, a GCC political

science professor, has already begun talking about it. She couldn’t

help it.

“This is so significant, so unprecedented historically, not only

will it profoundly impact my teaching for years to come, but it is

impacting the textbook I’m writing,” Field said, adding that she had

to ask the book’s publishers to delay an August deadline so she could

add more recall information.