A Pedagogical Opportunity Not Fully Grasped


Prof. Merrill Skaggs of Drew University wanted to make voting a requirement for her American Lit class this. [NYT story] As you might expect, this caused a bit of a hullabaloo, both on the right and the left. The Professor finally compromised by requiring students to enter the voting both, but not requiring a vote. A Quaker, she will grade the exercise on the honor system.

Pudentilla respectfully suggests that the Professor has ackwardly framed the requirement. She should have required students to return with that little slip of paper from the voting booth, or a three to five page paper explaining the student's decision not to vote.

If they have paperless electronic voting at the polls near Drew, students who voted should be required to write a three to five page paper defending or attacking the paperless electronic voting machine.