Before I respond to the actual question, let me share a memory from one of my last visits to a fifth-grade classroom, when I was there as part of a Parent-Teacher Night. You know those events where you visit your child’s school and meet the teachers in an evening. I went to as many of those as I could manage when my kids were young, so this event was probably about twenty-five years ago. I doubt that much has changed.
One of the things that I most remember from that evening is seeing posters in the hall – made for the event – about “What I would do if I were President,” made by the kids. That is, these were statements – political campaign promises, if you want to think of them that way – plus art work to accompany.
The statements ranged from “cure cancer” to “end war” to “feed everyone” and, of course, “stop pollution”. I marveled as I read each one and remarked (mostly to myself), “not possible”, “unconstitutional”, “unlikely” and “too vague”. (Most of the promises, I seem to recall, were of the “unconstitutional” variety, where the President would simply make and execute laws to conform to various beliefs that the kids held, or were told that they should hold.) So in other words, it was EXACTLY the same as if the kids were running for President of the United States. No difference whatsoever between these promises and the ones we all hear every four years, except the artwork was not as polished – in general – as what we see from presidential campaigns these days (and since the founding of the republic).
So my comment is that it seems a bit early in their lives for ten-year-olds to learn the kind of nuance that it would take to be able to defend a political position with which they probably disagree, just as it’s clearly too early to teach them to rationally and “with reason and understanding” defend positions with which they DO agree.
And it seems that some never grow beyond that stage, regardless of how old they get or how much “education” they consume. So it’s probably not too early to start the attempt, and good luck to the teacher.