This week I had all of my 7th graders write a short essay on what they will do when they are president. I thought it would be interesting to see what they are absorbing from the election hubub and how they are interpreting it. Below are excerpts from their essays.

When I am president:

-“I want to create a program that will help people who are getting bullied heal and put everything behind.”

-“I would ban homosexual marriages because same-sex marriags can be wrong.”

-“I would have every person who immigrates to the United States pay #1 so that we will have more money.”

-“I will lower gas prices. I will lower gas prices because I think about $4 a gallon is a little outrageous. A price I would set would be around $1 a gallon….I would also invent a $500 bill and a $1000 bill. I would make coins extinct by making every pricing have a “0” or a “5” at the end of the price.”

-“I am going to ban abortion. If I ban abortion this would make more Americans. By having more Americnas this would make more jobs, which would help the economy.”

-“I would try to boost the population of Christianity by being an example. And at most try to put some Scripture into my speeches to boost them up.”

-“I would have our militiary be more like special ops.”

-“I would ban abortion because babies should have a chance to live.”

-“I will stop all madness. I would fix cruelty, such as parents killing family members, and abortion, and the law Obama wants to make about being more dependent on the governmetn. I don’t want them to set a rule saying that you can’t grow your own garden…I would also have every morning dedicated to God. I want to change this nation’s attitude.”

-“I would make school hours longers. I would also get better teachers so we could keep up with China and make our own products.”

-“I wouldn’t allow abortion. Killing babies is such a bad thing to do.”

-“I would lower the taxes for all people, even for the rich. If I do that, then more people will be able to get jobs. Also, we need to have a good strong relationship with Israel.”

-“Our environment needs to be cared for. No more littering. No more dying creatures. We need to care about our environment in order to have an environment.”

-“I would make people stop cutting down so many tress. They made too many buildings in the big and less tress in the country. This equals bad oxygen!”

-“I would make more days on the weekend and less days of work because there could be more days of church. I would also make minimum wage $20 so that the homeless could at least have a home. We should also dig up our own oil so that we can save money so that one day we can pay back our debt.”

-“I would help the healthcare situations that the poor and eldely have problems with. I will try not to let them die. I will at least give the medication to take and give them money that they need.”

-“I also believe thatt children should have more edcuation in their schools. If children have more education I believe that they have more of a future to succeed in life.”

-“I would work with healthcare. People are starting to think that we should cut off life support of older people, and babies are being aborted. I believe that we should put ourselves in those positions: how would you feel? Would you want that to happen to you?”

-“Our military is a wonderful, elite group of brave men and women. We should not let ourselves be weakened because we cut down on the military. We are strong because we have a great military. If we cut down on them then we become more vulnerable. When we are vulnerable, countries can take that opportunity to take us down. I would not let that happen.” (from a daughter of a soldier who has been deployed nearly as many times as the number of years she has been alive)

As their teacher I might be biased, but I think these kids have a decent handle on the relevant issues at stake in this election. Some of their solutions might be a touch simplistic, but overall I believe that, between the pencil sharpening, bathroom breaks, rabbit trails during discussions, and exaggerated stories told during subject transitions, they might actually get a lot done as president – at least more than the adults in government.