Jindal’s Alexandria Strategy: Skip School and Canvass Neighborhoods

Around 8:30 this morning, my doorbell rang. Outside, there was a young white girl who looked to be around 13 years old holding a pile of Bobby Jindal push cards. Today, Tuesday, October 16, 2007 (the blog is published in GMT) is, in fact, a school day, but while most children were in school, a group of teenage girls “decided” to skip class in order to canvass Alexandria neighborhoods with Bobby Jindal push cards.

Representative Jindal arrived in Alexandria a few hours later, and coincidentally, he was met by a crew of teenage girls. It is always great when young people decide to become engaged in our democracy, but when young people are told to skip school and go to work for a candidate (with the promise that they will meet him later in the afternoon), they’re not engaging in the process; they are being used to do a candidate’s legwork. Today in Alexandria: (Photo courtesy of The Town Talk)

Responses

Dan Z.

October 17, 2007

Someone needs to call the truancy officer.

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Nathan Martin

October 17, 2007

Hi Lamar,

Just an FYI, many of these students are homeschoolers. I don’t know how many but I personally know some homeschooling families whose children are in the photo.

BTW, while I disagree with many of your points of view, I really enjoy your blog. Thanks for putting the hard work into keeping it fresh and relevant!

Sincerely,
Nathan

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Lamar White, Jr

October 17, 2007

Thanks Nathan. I guess homeschool kids don’t have to go to school, and therefore they can easily be put to work for a political campaign.

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Nathan Martin

October 18, 2007

🙂 Actually homeschooled children have a more flexible schedule, allowing them to be involved in activities that are important to them and their families while still achieving their educational goals.

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A Concerned Ticked Off Citizen

October 21, 2007

Hey Lamar,
Before you bash homeschoolers you better get your facts straight. I am a homeschooler and I have been working with Bobby’s campaign for four and a half years. I have learned more about the election process and voting process than most college students have and I’m still in highschool. You get more information and experience than any civics class can EVER give you. Oh and in that “crew of teenage girls” there also happened to be about ten guys so once again get your facts straight before you try and bash Bobby and his VOLUNTEERS!!!!! We were never told that we would meet Bobby, in fact; we were told that it would be nearly impossible to see him because of how busy this week was for him. I enjoy the campaign process and the life experience that homeschooling affords me. I have been able to enrich my education through experiences that I would not be able to get in a public classroom setting. I have experienced and seen more of the world through my homeschool education because I am able to include real-life training instead of just book learning. Homeschoolers meet and most of the time exceed the mandatory one hundred and eighty days of school required by the state. 🙂

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Lamar White, Jr

October 22, 2007

No one was attempting to bash the students in this case, and I have no doubt that homeschooling works well for many families.

I apologize if you were offended by the tone of this post, but it was important to point out that school age children were canvassing neighborhoods with campaign literature during the school day.

Thank you for your comment. Public school can be a miserable experience for many people, but believe it or not, you can actually learn quite a lot about the real world in public schools as well.

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