Meet Our Teachers
Win Anderson
Why the Founders Wanted Limited Government
鈥淔or most of my students, the idea of federalism is a mind blower,鈥 says Win Anderson,聽 who teaches general level and Advanced Placement United States Government at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School, near St. Cloud, Minnesota. Most of Anderson鈥檚 students are learning in her class for the first time that the founders wanted government to be limited鈥攁nd that in the United States, our federal system is one of the mechanisms that limit government. Anderson鈥檚 studies in the Master of Arts in American History and Government (MAHG) program helped her explain to students why the founders wanted this, and how the Constitution they framed accomplishes it.
She needed effective ways of explaining key concepts like federalism and the separation of powers, since she has a limited amount of time to teach them. In Minnesota, social studies is the only core subject without a standardized test. This allows schools to squeeze the study of American history and government into fewer weeks, Anderson feels, than young citizens often need.
Anderson鈥檚 school follows a trimester system, with the academic year broken into twelve-week segments. Students come to her class having taken two trimesters of world history and two of US history, not enough time to have acquired more than a fuzzy notion of what makes the American constitutional system distinctive. While Anderson鈥檚 AP students study government during two trimesters鈥24 weeks鈥攈er general level government students stay with her for only 12 weeks. All her students are seniors; they have not studied American government since leaving sixth grade. They desperately need the information Anderson鈥檚 class provides, because 鈥渢hey are about ready to vote for the first time,鈥 she says. 鈥淪ome of them have voted before they take my class!鈥
Limited Government Protects Citizens’ Rights
She centers her shorter, general-level course almost entirely around the Constitution. 鈥淲e spend one unit studying the rights of Englishmen鈥攔ights that the colonists thought they were being denied,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 have them read just a little bit of the and a little bit of the English Bill of Rights鈥濃攖exts the students find difficult. In part, they lack familiarity with the language of older primary texts. Yet they also struggle with the concept of natural rights. To understand that human beings are born with these rights鈥攁nd that our democratic republic protects rights, but does not grant them鈥攔equires them to adjust their concept of government鈥檚 role.
MAHG gave Anderson the confidence to teach her courses using primary documents. In her general level government course, she cannot ask students to read many documents in their entirety. She has time only to guide them in a careful, thorough reading of Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. One breakthrough in students鈥 understanding of limited government occurs as they read the Declaration. Anderson presents them with a numbered list of the colonists鈥 grievances against the British monarch. She breaks the class into small groups, assigning each group a subset of the long list. Students must paraphrase, in modern English, the grievances they鈥檝e been assigned. Then they must discuss why those actions of the English king angered the colonists.
Afterwards, each group of students comes to the board at the front of the room, posting the numbers of the grievances they were assigned under one of three headings: violations of Individual liberty, of economic liberty, or of the right to self-govern. As students classify each grievance, Anderson watches a realization dawn. 鈥淭hey understand for the first time that the American Revolution was not a tax revolt. No, Americans felt their fundamental rights as Englishmen鈥攁nd their natural rights as human beings鈥搘ere being denied,鈥 Anderson says. 鈥淭hat is a 鈥榣ight-bulb鈥 moment for them.鈥
Understanding the Separation of Powers
Anderson鈥檚 AP students have time to delve more deeply into the founders鈥 thinking, reading four of the Federalist papers. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 no small feat,鈥 she admits. 鈥淚 tell students they鈥檇 better worship the comma,鈥 or they will never follow the intricate logic of Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, as they lay out their arguments in long periodic sentences. She wants students to 鈥渟truggle with鈥 the language, using resources like the dictionary along with context clues. She places them in groups to maximize their efforts. Individual readers may pass over difficult words, but when students work in groups, reading the text out loud, one of the listeners will halt the reading to ask others in the group whether they understand the meaning of difficult words and phrases. 鈥淚 still provide a lot of scaffolding in terms of guided questions, which help students know if they鈥檙e on the right track.鈥
Moments of sudden insight occur among the AP students when they connect concepts in American political theory with current events. In Minnesota, the November election offered an opportunity to understand why the founders thought 鈥渢hat power needs to be fragmented,鈥 Anderson said. The previous Democratic governor was reelected; the state House remained in Democratic control; and the state Senate, previously Republican, became majority Democratic. This produced a unified government. Now, Minnesota legislators are busily writing and passing laws. 鈥淪ome kids love the bills now being considered in the Minnesota legislature, and some don鈥檛 like them at all,鈥 Anderson says. This occasioned discussion of another mechanism that limits the power of government: the separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers.
Partisan differences magnify the tendency of separated powers to limit governmental activism, while partisan alignments shrink it. Discussing this helps students see that 鈥渆lections have consequences. 鈥淵ou don’t always get your way. And just because you’re living under laws you don’t like doesn’t mean that your rights are necessarily being violated. You鈥檒l get your turn later.鈥
The last election reintroduced divided government at the federal level, and 鈥渟tudents struggle to understand why, in Congress, many things are not getting done.鈥 Anderson helps them consider, often for the first time, the possibility that the legislative process can benefit from a slowdown. 鈥淪ometimes, things shouldn鈥檛 get done,鈥 she tells them. 鈥淪ometimes, things should be repealed.鈥
Federalism and the Electoral College
The Electoral College system presents another source of puzzlement. Students 鈥渃annot fathom why we don’t just add up all the votes nationwide, and then declare a winner.鈥 Anderson tells her students that the design of the Electoral College reflects the founders鈥 preference for a federal system, in which states retain a degree of independent authority. 鈥淲e talk about why it can be good that Colorado is experimenting with legalized marijuana, while South Dakota is waiting to see the result鈥 of the experiment.
Ordered Liberty and Civil Conversation
鈥淚n my MAHG classes at Ashland, I learned that beautiful phrase: 鈥ordered liberty,鈥欌 Anderson says. The framers wanted to create a system of ordered liberty, one with 鈥渆nough authority to keep the peace, prevent violence and the theft or destruction of property,鈥 but not so much as to constrain the people鈥檚 freedom. How could they accomplish this? In part, they structured a system of carefully balanced powers. They also hoped to cultivate 鈥渁 virtuous citizenry,鈥 citizens 鈥渨ho can disagree without violating the law or destroying their relationships.鈥 In MAHG, Anderson not only came to understand the founders鈥 design; she realized that as a government teacher, she helps to ensure that their design still works.
鈥淭he professors do a really magical job of dealing with the ideological diversity of the teachers in the program.鈥 They keep seminar discussions 鈥渁political鈥 while helping teachers understand the thinking of earlier generations. Anderson admires the professors鈥 ability to begin class with a 鈥渕ini lecture鈥 explaining the intellectual, political or historical context of a document, providing background information teachers might not even know to look for. Briefed in this way, all the teachers begin the seminar discussion 鈥渙n the same page.鈥 Individual teachers bring differing perspectives, noticing different elements of the document. 鈥淏ut the professors help us all to see the big picture.鈥
In the big picture, elements of the Constitution that puzzle students are part of a unified and logical design. One way of encouraging civil political conversation in America is to help students discover this logic. 鈥淐itizens who don鈥檛 understand the Constitution are likely to be overly outraged by some political news鈥攁nd insufficiently outraged by other news,鈥 Anderson says.
Perpetuating Our Constitutional System
鈥淚 like to remind students of the ways in which the framers anticipated potential problems,鈥 she adds. Take, for example, the Electoral College system. 鈥淲hat happens if no candidate gets a majority of electoral votes?鈥 Students read in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution that in such a case, the decision goes to the House of Representatives. Anderson asks them, 鈥淲hy did the framers give this responsibility to the House?鈥 Students who鈥檝e been paying attention respond, 鈥淏ecause House members have always been directly elected; they have two-year terms; and they’re supposed to be more responsive to the people.鈥 Then Anderson can point out, 鈥淲ow, weren’t the framers smart? Rather than leave us with a constitutional crisis when there is no electoral majority, they gave us a safety valve. Is it ideal that the House choose the president? No, it’s not ideal,鈥 she says; 鈥渂ut it’s a lot better than civil war. 鈥
Above all, Anderson hopes students learn that 鈥渢he rule of law is not upheld magically; it’s upheld by adherence to constitutional principles.鈥 Without the Constitution鈥檚 safeguards against tyranny, and without the avenues it provides for dissent and redress of grievances, 鈥渢hings crumble pretty quickly and it gets awfully ugly for regular people like you and me. It is in our own best interest鈥攁nd the best interest of our posterity鈥攖o keep fidelity with constitutional principles.鈥