School Election Project Kick-Off Event In Berlin

September 19, 2008. The U.S. Embassy’s Cultural Section, in cooperation with the Berlin-Brandenburg teacher training institute LISUM, hosted 70 teachers from Berlin and Brandenburg schools for a seminar on the presidential election campaign. Darrell West, the vice president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, gave an excellent briefing. Information Resource Service staff from the Embassy produced an extensive database for classroom use, and representatives of the city library advertised research-based workshops for teachers and students. Finally, the teachers participated in a state lottery to choose an “adopted” U.S. state, which they will study intensively with their students. The project will end with a final discussion on Election Day with student and Embassy representatives as well as an American expert. The project is fully integrated in school curricula and will be conducted in two federal states for the next three weeks. The highly motivated teachers underscored the interest among the German public in the outcome of November’s election. Together with their students, they will look behind the news stories and intensively study U.S. election processes and issues.