Marriage debate offers civics lesson
FRAMINGHAM -- Halfway through his American history class, Jeff Sudmyer saw every teacher's dream: a sea of raised hands clamoring for a turn to speak.
"Hold on, hands!" Sudmyer said, waving his own. "I love the hands."
The subject: the proposal to ban same-sex marriages in Massachusetts.
Sudmyer, a Framingham High School teacher, and several of his peers around the state tackled the touchy topic last week in social studies classes. They and their students wrestled with the same weighty questions Beacon Hill lawmakers considered during a constitutional convention on whether to approve an amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages. Should voters ultimately decide the matter? Are civil unions for same-sex couples equal to marriage? What are the political ramifications?
Sudmyer wrote the three branches of government on the chalkboard and asked his 22 students about the public's options. If lawmakers pass the amendment, they could undo the Supreme Judicial Court decision that declared gay marriage constitutional. Polls indicate that voters are divided on permitting same-sex marriages, and voters get the final say on a constitutional amendment.
"If enough people oppose it, what can they do to overrule what the SJC has said?" Sudmyer asked.
"Change the constitution," a student said.
"Exactly," Sudmyer said. "So that's what they're trying to do now."
But junior Chris Daly foresaw problems in putting a constitutional amendment to a vote.
"It makes you think about what else is going to be taken away," he said. "Is freedom of speech next? Is the right to bear arms next?"
The discussion shifted to whether public opinion should even drive the debate. Junior Jessica Tracy pointed out that the concept of same-sex marriage seemed so different that people needed to talk about it.
"I don't think they should not be together," said Tracy, 16. "But it is different than different genders getting married."
Sudmyer framed the sensitive issue of same-sex marriage as a lesson on the constitutional process, seeking to de-emphasize the politics and emotions surrounding the topic. But as they explained the constitutional debate, some teachers chose their words carefully.
Bill Garretson, a teacher at Framingham High School, refers to "same-gender marriages" instead of "same-sex."
"I just thought the word sex has an implication -- that the basis of the relationship is just physical," Garretson said.
Doug Sears, dean of the School of Education at Boston University, urges teachers to avoid talk of the same-sex marriage debate because no teacher can provide historical perspective of an issue that unfolds daily.
"I'm cautious about current events," Sears said. "I think when you get a lot of strong passions, that is where you have the risk of degenerating into a mere debate as opposed to scholarly conversation."
Still, teachers at Danvers High School have found many valid lessons in the current debate, an administrator said. A US history class learned about changing the state constitution. Another class examined how the issue could help to shape the 2004 presidential election, and students talked about individual rights in a philosophy course.
Schools within or affiliated with the Archdiocese of Boston, such as Boston College High School, had to juggle stressing the teachings of the Catholic Church with putting the court ruling in proper context.
Nick Argento, chair of BC High's social studies department, said he handed his students a church mailing that outlined its opposition to same-sex marriage, as well as newspaper editorials expressing pros and cons. Students questioned the nuts and bolts of how the constitution could be amended, he said.
Seeing both sides helps students who want more information, said BC High senior Tim Dee. Dee said he sides with the church's stance opposing same-sex marriages, but understands the arguments supporting them.
"There's a lot of holes kids still have questions about," said Dee, 17. "Everything that's going on right now will probably fill some of those holes."
The Monica Lewinsky scandal and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks spurred elementary and middle-school students to ask questions, but the same-sex marriage debate has barely registered. Still, educators say it is noteworthy that the topic has surfaced at all, even in high schools. Pop culture gives teachers a hook to raise the subject, said Laura Schall-Leckrone, director of social studies and world languages for the Danvers public schools.
"It can be discussed in a way that it might not have been in previous generations," she said.
