By Judy Clabes
NKyTribune editor
Michael Baranowski has been a teacher for 24 years but he can’t remember being more excited about a class than he is about the Political Science class he’ll be teaching at Northern Kentucky University this semester.
He developed “Election 2020” before COVID set in, as he contemplated a consequential presidential election year – and the possibilities it opened up for students. Subsequent conversations – and enthusiastic support – from President Ashish Vaidya and Provost Sue Ott Rowlands resulted in a class that would produce a weekly Podcast on the 2020 election.
It would be both a deep learning experience for students and a major public service for Northern Kentucky.
Baranowski is no stranger to Podcasts about politics. Since 2015, he has been one of the Politics Guys (Politicsguys.com), which started with two friends having opposite points of view talking politics in a bipartisan way – showing, particularly, that political views from different perspectives can, indeed, happen in a civil context.
Over time, the group has grown from Baranowski and his college friend Jay Carson to include Trey Orndorff, a former student of his at NKU and currently a political science professor at Oklahoma Christian University, Ken Katkin, a professor of law at Chase, and Kristin Matheny, a Republican policy analyst who has worked in conservative media.
The Politics Guys podcast draws a broad and far-reaching audience – and it shaped Baranowski’s idea for how he could engage a small group of students in an impactful – and service-oriented – serious discussion about policy issues around the presidential election.
The class is necessarily small – six students – who will be known by their first names only (Olivia, Skylar, Allan, Doc, Noah, and Faith) and who were chosen from an impressive range of applicants. Competition was fierce and, yes, a diverse group was necessary to make the concept work.
“I want to try to present to a larger audience what I hear in my classes all the time,” he said. “I am energized by class discussions with impressive students who have an amazing range of ideas and opinions and points of view.”
The class is Political Science – Election 2020, an upper-level class and not limited just to political science majors. The group will come together in a ZOOM group moderated by Baranowski.
“The students are the stars,” Baranowski says.
And they will earn their stardom the hard way – through research and reading and writing because the discussion will be well thought-out. Nothing off-the-cuff.
“They will do a lot of hard work,” he says.
While a political debate might be one-sided and harsh with lots of talking and little listening, the Election 2020 podcasters – who have very different values – will try to find common ground.
The podcast will be live every Wednesday and the first one – on Vote Fraud & Election Security – can be found now at Politicsguys.com.
Subjects for subsequent weekly podcasts are:
The Presidential Tickets & The Battle For Congress
COVID-19 & Healthcare Policy
Economic Policy
Foreign & Defense Policy
Analysis of the First Presidential Debate
Analysis of the Vice Presidential Debate
Race & Gender Issues
Analysis of the Second Presidential Debate
Analysis of the Third Presidential Debate
Immigration Policy (and Pre-Election Predictions)
Post-Election Analysis (two episodes on this)
American Politics in 2021
Baranowski hopes the students’ work will inform and engage the public, encourage voting and citizenship – and show that it’s possible to come to consensus around public policy issues.
“In the end,” he says, “there’s a lot more we agree on than that separates us.”
This could be a very good teaching experience and learning opportunities for students to learn about the importance of learning their roll in good citizenship. Particularly considering the founders and the role of our Constitution and system of government. May God Bless you in your teaching.