Elite School Will Offer a Day Off for Students Distressed by Election

With stuff like this I always think of the anecdote I had watching people playing on a playground.<p>There was a small step getting out of the playground, and one kid fell over running out. Looked over at his mum, who in turn looked panicked, and the kid burst out crying.<p>Another kid did the same thing, looked at his mum, who looked up at the kid, then went back to making lunch. The kid got up, shrugged and carried on back to his family.<p>I fully realise anecdotes are useless for setting policy, but still useful for conveying meaning.<p>At some point, telling people there is a problem, makes it a problem. At least in Australia, none of my relatives at school are even aware of issues associated with elections...let alone needing a day off. Unless I suppose we start telling them there is an issue?

Here&#x27;s a crazy idea - move election day to a day when almost everyone is off work or school, problem solved.

It&#x27;s one potential day off at one school, seems pretty trivial. Though I guess if anywhere I read is gonna care about it it&#x27;s gonna be here.

I remember a political stunt by an organization that created an advertisement, comparing the lunch for students at Sidwell Friends, an elite Washington, DC school popular with President&#x27;s on down, and the nearest public school. One sounded like a 4 start restaurant, the other sounded like, well, prison.<p>I recount this because I don&#x27;t think most people truly grasp how different life is for kids in some elite K-12 programs. The children of the elite have at least as much privilege, if not more in some cases, than their elite parents.

Days ahead to consider your civics &amp; what they mean to you might be a solid idea?

The consensus, that students would only be distressed if adults model distress for them, seems to me to be missing the point. The presidential election is much more consequential for their future than most other things that would upset a K-12 student enough to miss a day of school. This likely applies to gubernatorial elections as well.<p>Shielding kids from the truth does them no favors. I understand why civics classes usually focus on events so far in the past that most adults have the same beliefs about which side was in the right--but kids have a finely honed sense for things that won&#x27;t really affect them; and Millard Fillmore killing off the Whig party triggers that sense; whether we&#x27;re about to elect someone with no respect for the institutions of our government does not.

I wonder if this news alone makes the &quot;distress-causing&quot; outcome more likely.