Talking America

Class warfare

• Jon Kelly
• 1 Oct 08, 04:37 AM GMT

Eleven-year-old Kayla Hager has been watching this election closely. After her teacher asked her class to study the presidential candidates, she quickly became fascinated by the race.

"I wasn't all that interested before," she told me. "But now we've had this assignment, I'm really following it."

Looks like I was onto something about young people being more politically engaged over here. At 11, I barely could have told you what an election was.

In her music classroom at Poplar Bluff Fifth and Sixth Grade Center, Missouri, Kayla told me she wanted Barack Obama to win - she liked his policies on education and the environment. But most of the adults I spoke to here weren't so enthusiastic about either nominee.

On the surface, this small-town Midwestern school seemed a million miles from the turmoil engulfing Wall Street and Washington.

But it's closer than you might think. Missouri's education budget is funded by a property tax. If the housing market continues to contract, so too will the funds available for the state's classrooms.

The human costs of the economic turmoil were all too visible here to fifth grade teacher Joan Lack, 32. She has already heard some heartbreaking stories from her pupils.

"We had a student saying that her family couldn't pay its electric bill," she said. "When I was 10 years old, I didn't know what an electric bill was.

"I fear that they're going to leave school growing up in a depression."

As I've already noted, Missouri is a bellwether state when it comes to elections. I wasn't surprised to hear that the economy was a huge issue here. But it appears that education is a big deal, too.

Kayla's mother, Brandy, 34, hadn't decided which way to vote. Working in a home furnishings store, she'd noticed a slump in sales as shoppers grew jittery.

But the issue that really concerned her was her daughters' schooling. In particular, she wasn't at all happy with the recent education reforms.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 introduced mandatory testing for students. Results were published, and schools which did not improve were subject to heavy sanctions.

But Brandy wasn't impressed. Ambitious for Kayla, she was frustrated that better-performing children were being ignored because the onus was on teachers to raise attainment at the bottom of the class.

"In my experience, I've not felt that it has met the needs of my children," she complained.

"They're high achievers. But No Child Left Behind doesn't do anything for them."

But not everyone agreed. The principal, Patty Robertson, was proud that the school had made steady progress in the league tables. She led me through its corridors, and I saw lines of cheerful 10-to12-year-olds queuing patiently for class. It did seem a good place to learn.

Patty didn't believe that the education reforms had been perfect. The target of making sure every student was proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014 was unattainable, she argued, and didn't take account of children with special needs.

But a few tweaks were all that she felt were needed to make the policy work. And with the election looming, she was concerned that she faced a choice between one candidate who would drastically transform it, and another who would let it stagnate.

"I'm worried about both. I'm afraid there will be no change at all if John McCain gets in.

"But with Barack Obama - well, I don't want everything totally altered. So I guess I'm still making up my mind."

So is Missouri. And history suggests that the rest of the country will take notice.

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For whom the bell tolls

• Jon Kelly
• 1 Oct 08, 03:25 AM GMT

I'm in the Midwest: Missouri, to be precise. Voters in this bellwether state have picked the winner in every presidential election in the past 100 years except 1956. Maybe I can get them to choose my lottery numbers, too.

At first glance, it looks like they keep a beady eye on their politicians around here. When I picked up The Daily American Republic of Poplar Bluff, its front page solemnly itemised how each member of the state's nine-strong delegation to the House of Representatives cast their ballots on the Wall Street bail-out.

For the record, five rejected the proposals: three Republicans and two Democrats. Two from each party supported the bill.

As Jennifer found out, the latter group might have a task ahead explaining themselves to their constituents:

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