Meet the youngest and brightest critics in politics today: fourth-graders. Unafraid and underage, some precocious children at Cold Spring Elementary School in Potomac, Maryland, had plenty to say about the presidential candidates when they were visited recently by author Cynthia Levinson.
Levinson shared one of her books with the students, Hillary Rodham Clinton: Do All the Good You Can. “I wanted to create sort of a hologram of Hillary right in front of kids, so kids could feel they have a dialogue about issues in American politics,” she said.
And the dialogue was enlightening.
Some students said it would be “cool to have a girl president” and that Clinton was “pretty nice.”
But others were skeptical.
“I’m more on Bernie Sanders’ side," said Tianlai Yang, 10. "Hillary Clinton is less direct than Bernie Sanders.”
Opinion polls indicate some voters are worried that if the former first lady wins, the result will be like a third term for the Obama administration. Kyle Baer, 9, agreed.
“I like Hillary Clinton’s ideas," he said, "but the only thing I have against her is that she’s already been a resident of the White House before, and I don’t think she should be a resident again.”
The young students also expressed opinions about the Republican presidential candidates, especially Donald Trump.
Katherine Pease, 9, wrote a letter pleading with him to drop out of the race "because he lies, he’s a hypocrite, he’s a megalomaniac and he’s delusional, which really — those four qualities aren’t good for a president.”
These students are well on their way to becoming informed, engaged voters, even though they won't be able to cast a ballot until 2024.
