As a camp counselor to six-year-old boys, I often find myself repeating a cycle of phrases in order to teach them valuable lessons. I repeat “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” “Keep your hands to yourself,” and “Don’t interrupt him. He didn’t talk when you talked.”
Thus, imagine my surprise when I heard those words echoed back to me on my television Sunday night during the second presidential debate.
“She didn’t talk when you talked,” CNN anchor and debate moderator Mr. Anderson Cooper said, after Republican Presidential Candidate Mr. Donald Trump interrupted Democratic Presidential Candidate and Former Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Clinton.
Mr. Cooper did not only have to say it once, but he repeated the message to both candidates multiple times. Where was the decorum? Why were Mr. Cooper and ABC’s Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Ms. Martha Raddatz forced to become moderators of both the debate and the candidates’ manners?
These questions reminded me of a book that my father used to quote, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things by American author Robert Fulghum. In fact, the book chronicles the values taught in American kindergarten classrooms and highlights how the world would improve if adults complied to those same values, according to amazon.com.
Although the candidates seem to possess comprehensive political plans, they continue to act like kindergartners on and off the screen. Instead, they should implement the high behavioral standards that we learn in elementary school and maturely demonstrate their presidential fitness to the American people.
With young children watching the presidential debates, it is imperative that the candidates rise to the occasion and be the true adults in the room.
In order to achieve this, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump should stick to discussing the issues. Election debates customarily serve as an opportunity for the candidates to showcase their positions. This year, however, these contests have degenerated into name calling in the schoolyard.
As a result, when the American people step into voting booths in November, they will be unable to make an educated decision based on the views of either candidate. Instead, they will only remember the controversies of each candidate’s campaign.
Further, the candidates need to re-establish a respectful political discourse. Many debate-watchers believe that the body language and tone of the debate were hostile and disrespectful, according to CNN.
We should celebrate the ability to consider different candidates, review the campaign promises, and, ultimately, cast ballots in November as befits of our representative democracy. On the contrary, when we turn on the television, we are treated to mudslinging and muckraking throughout the entire process. This is unacceptable.
With less than a month left until the election, if the candidates continue to conduct themselves in this manner, then, we the people, will be rendered incapable of making an educated effort to elect our next president based on the issues our nation faces today. I implore my classmates and other voters in the Convent of the Sacred Heart community to consult the issues on hillaryclinton.com and donaldjtrump.com before casting a ballot November 8. It is critical that our next president chooses to effuse the values of leadership, knowledge, respect, and tolerance, rather than model the behavior of elementary school campers.
– Arielle Kirven, Co-Editor-in-Chief
King Street Chronicle
King Street Chronicle
Summer camp or serious campaign
Juliette Guice ’17
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Victoria Allen • Oct 15, 2016 at 3:24 pm
Brava! Great article, AND you didn’t take sides, either.