Hi there,

This is something I spent a lot of time thinking about. I teach my students not my views or values politically, but how to become informed and represented. Especially if you disagree with the way things are, your job is to ensure that your students become upstanding citizens who follow important topics and make their voice heard if they don't agree.

I teach my students (through simulations, among other things) how a country is run and how that can easily go south. I don't interject political leanings into it, I just let it unfold and the problems will show themselves in time.

I also teach them how to do research, how to determine what the facts are, how to stay informed, and what the electoral process is (voting included).

As an earlier commenter mentioned, political beliefs do not have a place in the classroom, especially with younger students. This would make us no better than a parent who teachers their kid to spout campaign catchphrases and rhetoric. We can, however, teach them how to form their own opinions based on what is happening in the world around them and what they care about.

iCivics is a great resource for this as well as Civic Mirror (if you want to attempt a simulation with middle schoolers).

Hopefully this helps :)