Please Hillary and Donald, We as a nation are now pleading with you to show your manners and etiquette.
When I was growing up in elementary school, I was always told that manners and etiquette were important. This meant a few things, not interrupting, letting the person whom is speaking speak, giving your full attention to the speaker, and if you have nothing nice to say, saying nothing at all. As someone who for the past two years studied in the field of education as well, I feel positive in saying that most elementary and middle school students have these skills mastered, so why when I tuned into the debate last night, why did I feel like the moderators were the substitute teacher that gets walked all over?
This was not a one sided problem either. Hillary and Trump were both horrid in how they acted during the debate last night. They were doing glorified mud slinging. I was in an agonizing pain I have never felt before as a cringed while revealing in the stupidity as neither could move away from bashing their opponent to even properly answer a question. The first question of the night showed the audience that this debate would only go as well as the last did. The very first question posed was the following,"Thank you, and good evening. The last debate could have been rated as MA, mature audiences, per TV parental guidelines. Knowing that educators assign viewing the presidential debates as students’ homework, do you feel you’re modeling appropriate and positive behavior for today’s youth?"
Clinton began answering the question by first asking the woman who asked the question if she was an educator and that our students in america need to understand that "America is great because America is good." This was a remark that left me breathless and laughing. How was this possibly even a response to the question stated? She continued to talk about her goals for America, but never about how she or Trump composed themselves last debate, or how they hoped to set a better example of manners for the younger generations.
Trump's response to this question was no better though. Trump began his response by agreeing with Hillary, that America is great, but the foolish things happening in this country were why he began his campaign anyways. He soon launched into facts and statistics on health care, the war and ISIS, and the death of two officers just that day. He finished with his well known slogan, "Make America great again."
I'm positive I was not the only person who sat bewildered in front of their T.V. last night. We saw both candidates bully each other on stage, sling mud and take low blows at one another. This is not politics. This is a childish fight between two people with egos as large as the Empire state building.
The real grinding point though? During each debate, there has been a ridiculous amount of interruptions with the candidates. They are speaking over each other, correcting each other and just being generally rude. In the first debate, (according to Bustle.com) Trump interrupted Hillary 51 times, and Hillary interrupted Trump 17 times. This time around, Trump interrupted 18 times, and Hillary interrupted just once. These numbers are outrageous to me. Once again, if a kid even interrupts once in class, we see it as a huge deal and condone it, but apparently it is okay for these two to carry on this way at a national political event.
I'm begging that America wakes up and smells the truth here. These candidates are both less than presidential. Neither holds the poise our etiquette to be speaking during a presidential debate, let alone be seeking out the title of president alone. These two do not even touch the caliber of intelligence that previous presidential debates seemed to demand from its participants.
America, I'm begging here, please vote your conscience in this election. Please vote for the person you would want your children to model the behavior of. Keep in mind your children, grandchildren and future generations health and safety as you vote. Election are not meant to resemble a crude talk show, they are meant to resemble a poised and intellectual debate.
