High School: American Elections: Democracy in Action

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!!! Before heading out to celebrate the birth of our country, I want to share this new course we just scheduled this week. After all, American Elections fits right into Independence Day.

Mr. Rivet's government classes are very engaging, interesting, and even fun. I hope you'll take advantage of this special course designed with the 2012 Presidential Election in mind. Get high school credit while learning about your civic duty as an American citizen!

Government: American Elections; Democracy in Action 

(click on course title for registration information)

Class dates: Fridays, Oct. 5 to Nov. 9, 2012.
Total classes: 6
Starting time: 11:30 am Eastern (10:30 Central)
Duration: 1 hour
Prerequisite: Basic knowledge of American government.
Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th
Suggested high school credit: 1/2 semester Government (For additional credit, see our other government courses -- both live and recorded.)
Fee: $80 if you register on or before Aug. 1, 2012. $90 if you register after Aug. 1 for all 6 classes. 
Instructor: Ed Rivet, MPA
Course description: This 6-week course will explore the "ins and outs" of the American electoral process, with a special emphasis on the upcoming presidential election. We'll begin class 5 weeks prior to the November election, with our last class a wrap up, just 3 days after we've elected a new president. (Well... hopefully we won't have a repeat of the year 2000 "hanging chad" debacle.) Along with weekly lectures, there will be some interactive features during the class time. Perhaps we'll have a little "prognostication" contest on the outcome of certain elections.
Course outline:
Week 1: Elections: Overview of Constitution & Laws
Week 2: Comparisons: Local v. State v. National Elections; Partisan v. Nonpartisan; Jungle Primaries; U.S. System v. other countries
Week 3: The Electoral College - Should It Stay or Should It Go?
Week 4: Anatomy of Campaigns: Operations, PACs & Super PACs, Polls & Pundits
Week 5: How Issues, Incidents & Outside Events Affect Campaigns
Week 6: Post-election Analysis - What drove the results? How accurately did we foresee the results? What are the implications of the results?
Course materials: Provided free by the instructor or online.
Homework: Students will have a variety of "home"work assignments – reading, research, some essays, etc. Students are going to be STRONGLY encouraged to volunteer at least a couple hours of their time to any candidate or issue campaign of their choice during the 6-week period. Essays graded by the instructor.

Instructor biography: Ed Rivet has a B.S. in Pre-Law and Public Policy and a Master’s in Public Administration both from Michigan State University. For 23 years Mr. Rivet has served as the Right to Life of Michigan’s Legislative Director. He has written and helped enact dozens of laws, including the nation’s first complete ban on human cloning, and banning assisted suicide in the face of the assault on human life by Jack Kevorkian and Geoffrey Fieger. Mr. Rivet has done countless media interviews, appearing in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, plus live interviews on CNN and Good Morning America.

Equipment requirements: Classes are online, live, and interactive. Students are required to have high-speed internet and a headset with microphone.
Misc: Mr. Rivet will be available via email in between classes for questions and comments.
Recordings of classes are provided to students within 24 hours and available for 6 months.
Homeschool Connections does not provide record keeping services.

Government: American Elections; Democracy in Action 

(click on course title for registration information)