"a journey through the history of the struggle of various segments of our society to be considered as part of the expression We The People. From the original wording and subsequent evolution of the Constitution, through the enactment of the existing 27th Amendments and the influence of judicial activism, the presentations were designed to illustrate the need for a new 28th Amendment to the Constitution to reestablish the original intent of the expression We The People to include all of the people and exclude corporations. Additional discussions were inserted to include a second as important assertion that the malignant influence of money in our political process must be eliminated."
Later in the day, Carol Lerner and Rhana Bazzini formally introduced twenty one fourth grade students from Garden Elementary School in Venice to the U.S. Constitution. Discussion points included the purpose of the US Constitution, how it defined the structure of US government, and how it established human rights for the citizenry. Carol reports that
“the students applied this learning to writing a mock constitution for their class. Using a timeline and photographs, the students also discovered the process of amending the Constitution. The students particularly looked at the Amendments that expanded the right to vote in the United States. Using photographs representing different segments of the population (photos showing gender, race, class and ethnicity), the students sorted the photos to guess which group was able to vote at different points in US history. They were surprised to learn that only around 6% of the population, just white, male property holders, could vote when our nation was founded. They learned about the struggles, like the women's and civil rights movements, to expand the number of voters through Amendments and legislation. These young students asked outstanding, meaningful questions and were extremely excited to learn about the evolution of the U.S. Constitution.”
Our Manasota Move To Amend team is already excited about participating in Constitution Day next year. Get in touch, if you are a teacher or school administrator, in Sarasota or Manatee Counties, in a public or private school - and you're looking for an exciting Constitution Day option.
