Civics course in Pennsylvania uses real-life examples from midterm elections
As the battle for the Senate seat in Pennsylvania wages on, Dr. Joe Harmon has found ripe material for his civics course at a public high school in the state.
"So who has the balance of power?" he asked his class of eighth graders at Red Bank Valley High School, in New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, after reviewing the role of the U.S. Senate.
"Democrats," the class of a dozen young students answer in unison.
"So that's why this election coming up, that's why there's a lot of attention to Pennsylvania," Dr. Harmon said.
ABC News' "Nightline" team visited the Pennsylvania high school, which is an hour northeast of Pittsburgh in a staunchly red part of the state, to see how the state's Senate campaigns were providing real-life examples for students.
The closely-watched race in the swing state is between celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz and lieutenant governor John Fetterman, who are running as the Republican and Democratic candidates, respectively, to fill a seat currently held by a Republican. The Senate is currently divided 50/50 between Democrats and Republicans.
Harmon said the civics course has become "a lot easier to teach" since the 2016 election. As political candidates have become more "out there and prominent and maybe popular," he said, "students are more engaged."
"They're more interested in the processes and the candidates and what's happening in the country in general," he said.
In class, students pointed out specific political issues that resonated with them.
"If you grew up around guns, and with guns, like my family hunts some, then you're going to be like, 'well I want guns because that's part of my rights,'" said one student.
"We've been talking a lot about student loan forgiveness," another student said, "and I just think it's unfair for like this generation to kind of be just given everything."
Abby Crawford, a university student in Pittsburgh, looks back fondly at her time at Red Bank Valley High School. She told ABC News it was the place where she learned to debate contentious political issues and maintain respect for people that disagreed with her.
"[Dr. Harmon] talked a lot about our civic duties and responsibilities and how important it is to be involved," she said. "And if we're going to have opinions, we need to take action on that."
During the Pennsylvania primary, these skills have come in handy. Her father, Wes Crawford, leans right while Abby leans left.
"We do our best," Abby Crawford told ABC News' Trevor Ault. "It's definitely a learning curve, figuring out how to talk, not from a place of, like, convincing, but just like, understanding the difference in opinion that we have."
About Dr. Oz, Wes Crawford said, "I don't know if he was the best candidate we could have chosen to represent the Republican Party." But he told ABC News he thinks that Dr. Oz is a "very reasonable and good candidate."
Abby, on the other hand, feels strongly that "he's made his money and he's built his Oz empire off of misinformation and of shaming patients," she said, and specifically shaming women "a lot."
Her candidate of choice, at this point, appears to be John Fetterman. "I think that there's a lot good to be said for [him]," she said. "He's been deep into Pennsylvania communities and he's put in a lot of time for Pennsylvania."
One thing the father and daughter do agree on, however, is how important the upcoming election is.
"We need to take pause and see if the direction we're heading is good or bad for our country," said Wes Craword.
"We have a serious responsibility to ourselves and to each other and to the country to be involved and do your own research," said Abby.
Echoing the critical thinking components in Dr. Harmon's civics curriculum, she added, "dare to challenge yourself on what you've always been told."
