When I was your age...

Aww, this article reminds me of my days campaigning for Bill Clinton as a fourth grader for the class straw poll. However, I was up against a lot. Never underestimate comic appeal of a diminutive man to a bunch of giddy school children (Ross Perot won in a landslide).

After reading the article from the NYtimes about school children in Pennsylvania and their classroom campaigns, I can't help but feel that the youth of today have so much more sophistication than we did as kids. While involvement and interest is great - beyond great - I have to wonder about at what cost this heightened access to information comes without the lens of experience. Will grade schoolers that can jump on CNN.com buy everything they read word for word? Is it a bad thing if they do? Should their teachers and parents give them guidance in how to interpret the information? Would that be worse? Now I'm starting to sound old, talking about young whippersnappers. Oh well, I suppose as long as they don't let the kiddies watch The O'Reilly Factor, it can't be too bad.

Here are some gems from the article:

“I remember something I learned about Hillary,” Elizabeth told her
classmates. “It’s not like a marriage between Hillary and Bill. It’s more
like an agreement. She helps him. He helps her.”
Asked where she had gleaned this information about Mrs. Clinton, from New York, and her husband, the former president, she said, “I saw it on AOL.com.”
. . .

But to their teachers, the children’s preferences were less important than
their embrace of politics.
“I feel better about our future,” said Mrs. Stefano, 62. “I’m getting to the point where I’m going to need these kids to take care of me. This gives me hope.”