Most recently, the Red Sox' Kurt Schilling wore his World Series regalia at many a Bush-Cheney press conference, and many Hollywood stars joined forces with the Kerry-Edwards campaign. As of late, policy has become confrontational across the public sphere, and even the lives of high school seniors are not spared. As a direct result, beginning at a personal level, high school seniors are easily receptive to and can understand the making of public policy. Talking to high school seniors, it is first important to reach out to them in ways that the empower themselves with an understanding of the role public policy plays in their every day lives and communities. Through news coverage, they can engage each other in issues that matter to them. Asking, "what public policies are currently being discussed that you know about?" Finding a topic with some heat, but not a vast amount of moral debate, is a good way to begin; for instance, asking students what they think of civil unions is a more weary path than that of stem cell research; however, a policy recently integrated that most directly affects them is the place the speaker must focus: particularly the No Child Left Behind Act.

First, the speaker must ask why NCLB was implemented. Ask, "why did people want reform? What was going on with the educational system?" Across the board, activists agreed the American education system was in crisis; it needed saving. But people disagreed in how to change it; everyone wanted to bring in more students, provide them with a better education, but somehow, they all disagreed. The students need to be involved in addressing the concerns in a fundamentally self-involved way; "how do you think you could fix this problem? What did other people suggest?" Walking through the contrasting sides - the right's support of testing and vouchers, the left's of better teachers, textbooks, and after-school services - the speaker can demand thought of the...

"Who was involved in this process?," the speaker should ask. At this point, the debate can extend to the great world of not just GOP and democratic rivalries, but also to the think tanks, lobbyists, and organizations at play; "what did the Teachers' Union have to say?" "What think-tanks do you know?" Even quiet students are able to identify think tanks, though they all might not know it; common names like the Cato Institute, the Annenberg Center, the Heritage foundation, foundations of former presidents, the Kellogg Foundation, etc.; all that took sides in the debate are worth elaboration, but particularly current issues that are being heralded and trumped by various pundits (Robert Novak, John Carvelle) as well as other institutes.
Ultimately, however, the wagons circled and the education issues became real reform; providing the students with a timeline for how the 2001 bill passed reminds them of the manners and mechanisms by which a law becomes actualized in the American government shows the transition between idea and reality. Running through those old "I'm Just a Bill" memories not only reaffirms the concepts learned nationwide in the 8th grade, but also cements them in the great context of political debate taking form in real life. After it passed though, NCLB has remained a subject of huge debate; explaining the stipulations of the law, examining the abilities of opposition to make reforms, and addressing the lifespan and effects of the bill will ground students in the ramifications of not only that law in specific, but truly drive home the importance of policy-making in the American government process.