They've already voted

Opinion Club votes for Bush 10-1, Lazio 9-3, 1 vote for Nader

At Brockport's A.D. Oliver Middle School there's an extracurricular activity group that stands in sharp contrast to the often lamented apathy among young people.

In its second year, the Opinion Club is an ever-expanding and contracting group of 6th, 7th and 8th graders who meet weekly on Friday afternoons, after school, to discuss issues of concern that they select on their own. When the group is moved to do so, they contact responsible parties seeking answers to questions and solutions to problems.

Molly Frank, one of the club's founders, says, "This is a club where if anybody has an opinion or something they want to fix, or something that isn't right, we talk about it and see what we can do about it."

Seventh grader Steve Caldarelli, who admits that usually he hates to stay after school, started coming to Opinion Club because, "I would like to help out some, too, not just do my homework. I like to come, too, because lots of my friends come, we get to fix problems and get answers to our questions."

The seed for the creation of the club was sown in Ellen Sand's sixth grade social studies class, where, according to Molly Frank, "Ms. Sand always used to ask us our opinion about stuff. She'd say, 'I want to know what you think!' So a few classmates took Ms. Sand's admonition to heart and organized themselves, creating their own rules-of-order, setting their own agenda, devising their own approaches to "fix things that need to be changed."

Recent actions the club has undertaken include contacting Wegmans about plastic bag recycling, Johnson & Johnson about "flesh colored" Band-Aids, pointing out that there are lots more kinds of flesh than pink, (J & J suggested non-pink people should use clear Band-Aids) and a meeting with State Senator Maziarz' office about the lack of guard rails on some canal bridges.

Other issues that have been discussed include destruction of park land for the Seneca Park Zoo expansion, school lunchroom policy, school dress code and concern over the the effects on dogs from buried electronic fences, cigarette butt litter on campus and soccer team organization.

The Opinion Club met specially on Wednesday, November 1 to cast their votes. Bush beat Gore, 10-1, Lazio defeated Hillary 9-3, Nader got one vote. An often cited reason for voting for Lazio was his strong ties to Rochester and New York state in general, and a dislike of Hillary Clinton for "lying." Bush voters often cited his pro-gun position wanting to ensure the right to hunt, and his "experience because his Dad was president before him."

In every case, students said their parents were voters although they did not necessarily make their decision based on their parents' preferences. Only a few students said their parents talked to them about the election and the issues involved. More likely to influence their decisions were TV commercials, TV news and newspaper headlines. The leading issues with this group of preteens include health care, the environment, gun control, education, world peace, and the death penalty.

When Opinion Club members were asked what they would do if, by magic, they awoke to find themselves president, lots of actions having to do with health care, the environment, world peace and gun control were mentioned. But one of the more imaginative answers was given by sixth grader Jarrett Bennett. As president, he said, he would "make an air globe around Mars because, in like billions of years the sun's going to die out and fling into our planet, and I'd have space shuttles ready to move them up to Mars so they can live there."

The Brockport Opinion Club election results mirrors a recent Nickelodeon nation-wide "Kids Vote" poll, where George W. Bush defeated Al Gore 55 percent to 45 percent.

The Nickelodeon poll has predicted the winner in each of the past three presidential elections. The network said that 330,778 children between the ages of 6 and 11 participated in this year's contest where viewers were asked to call an 800 number or cast votes online.

While many observers note the widespread disaffection of young people with electoral politics, apathy among all youth appears to be a part of widespread disinterest and indifference over all age groups. By some estimates, less than 50 percent of eligible voters will cast ballots on November 7.