Seniors Visit District Court for Real World Learning

By Emily Bohr and Sasha Goldman

In response to civic engagement outreach programs, social science teacher Chris Knight’s US Government class attended multiple Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals sessions on October 22.

“I want my students to sense that democracy is wide open--it’s theirs. This courthouse is a public facility, and it is our right as citizens to come and watch this happen,” Mr. Knight said. “I wanted them to know that it is a tremendous gift to have this right and to have your voice be heard.”

The field trip is one way that Mr. Knight brings students directly to real life examples of his curriculum. His students have also attended school board meetings with budget proposals for the district.

“In classrooms, you get certain skills--how to analyze information, how to research things, how to present information--but you do not get the skill of walking into a room of elected people and speaking your mind. That is a different skill, and I want my students to have that skill so they will be civically engaged.”

Knight’s students agree about the importance of real world learning.

“If you're just going to read about it, you can envision it in a lot of different ways,” senior Miles Williams said, “but if you can see it in real life, you can see the different sides interacting and hear the questions the judge is asking.”

Mr. Knight’s students also spoke with law clerks and asked questions of a panel of court judges.

“There was this great discussion going on between these federal judges and the students of Albany High School,” Mr. Knight said. “One [student] asked ‘do you think lifetime tenure for judges is still a good idea?’”

Many of Mr. Knight’s students asked critical questions during the panel.

“The question part was my favorite,” Williams said. “I asked what criticisms of the justice system do you have, and they talked about how sometimes when they have a judge above them, they have to listen to that judge and they don't like how the status works. I could tell they had different views, but in general they were respectful. Getting to ask questions and getting to see how they thought about the positions they were in and how they interact made it easier to talk to judges and get used to that environment.”