Special Report: Arguing admirably: How Caldera’s Civil Discourse class prepares students for 2024 election

(Update: Adding video)

Students share views on hot issues: 'Every one of them has a voice'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Border security and immigration, gun control and Black Lives Matter are just a few of the hot topics discussed in Tommy Ochoa’s Civil Discourse class at Caldera High School.

“After the pandemic, we noticed that our post-pandemic generation of students were eager for higher engagement in the classroom - more of a voice, more options, more choice. And that's exactly what civil discourse is.” Ochoa said.

The program originally began at Mountain View High School during the 2018-19 school year. 

Sorahi Harati with the Restorative Justice and Equity Group helped start the class there while she was teaching at the time. 

“We wrote a proposal, our principal approved it and we started teaching. And then Caldera was like, 'Hey, we want to have Civil Discourse, too!' And so they started a program as well.”

Caldera is the only other school in Bend that offers the class. Their program began in the spring of 2022 and typically has 30 students a semester. 

The class discusses controversial topics and teaches students how to engage with others who may not share the same opinions.

"It talks about the topics that most other classes don't talk about, and I think that's very enjoyable." said student Christopher Killett.

Killett says one of the topics they focused on this semester was the 2020 ICE bus protest in Bend. Bend protesters rallied for nearly 12 hours blocking Immigrations and Custom Enforcement officers from detaining two men.

"We had a representative from the Bend Police Department in the classroom," Ochoa said. "We also had a representative from Mecha Bend who was leading the protest at that time. They were both guest speakers in the classroom."

Next semester in the fall, the presidential election will be a cornerstone of the class. Many of Ochoa's students will be able to vote for the first time.

 Killett said, "With all the issues and controversies that have been coming up with the most recent election, like if any classes won't cover that and people don't have enough free time to just study that ... when are they ever going to learn?"

Ochoa says he has students that lean a little to the left, right, and right down the middle.

"But they're all welcome in Civil Discourse," he adds. "Every one of them has a voice."

Although there are a wide range of perspectives and opinions, the class seems to handle disagreements well.

“It can get heated," Killett said, "but for this for this class this semester, we are kind of like very … civil in a way.”