Ask almost any recent Middleton High School (MHS) graduate about the Legislative Semester, and you will hear stories of debating with microphones in the Performing Arts Center (PAC), writing original bills and voting for leaders at makeshift polling stations.
Although every class period of the Legislative Semester starts the same way, with one student commencing the session using a gavel and Parliamentary Procedure, the journey the students take across five months is one-of-a-kind.
The Past: The Legislative Semester Comes to Middleton
The Legislative Semester is a government simulation course for MHS upperclassmen where students act as representatives of a legislature. In class, they research, debate and write bills, collaborating to address the political issues they each prioritize. Under the oversight of the Rules Committee, candidates for the Majority Leader, Minority Leader and Speaker of the House positions campaign to their peers prior to Election Day. For the rest of the semester, students review their peers’ bills during all-day sessions and vote to officially pass or fail them.
West Chicago High School social studies teacher Steve Arnold founded the Legislative Semester in 1993, and since then the class has expanded across the Midwest. Arnold’s daughter, Kate Ullman, introduced it to MHS while teaching there in the early 2010s. Since then, the Legislative Semester has been an integral part of MHS’ core classes, offering students a unique, semester-long shared experience.
“It’s a change of pace from your normal day-to-day class,” said junior Foster Wohlers. “I appreciate what we learn about the real political world.”
Wohlers, a current Legislative Semester student, was elected a Rules Committee Representative by his classmates and serves as the Debate Director. He is one of countless students who adopt different leadership roles throughout the course.
Since the class’s introduction to the community, MHS social studies staff adhere to its core principles while making minor adjustments as opportunities for growth arise.
“We make tweaks from year to year, but in general, the major milestones have stayed the same,” said MHS Legislative Semester teacher Jeffrey Hayward.
Megan Sipiorski, another experienced Legislative Semester teacher, highlighted some of the class’s improvements so far. Since she began teaching it, a lottery of campaign finances, tutors acting as lobbyists, class bill-writing themes and more have joined the Legislative Semester. One major change occurred in 2019, when the semester became directed toward MHS juniors rather than sophomores.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought inevitable change to the Legislative Semester. Adapting a class rooted in live discourse to fit a virtual framework was a daunting task.
“Very often, we’re gaveling in and somebody’s in their pajamas laying in bed,” Hayward joked.
However, having started teaching the Legislative Semester during this social shutdown, he commended the class’s success even with party caucuses set in Zoom meeting breakout rooms. The Legislative Semester functioned better in person, but its strong message of discussion and open-mindedness was not lost even through a screen.
One aspect of the Legislative Semester that its teachers appreciate the most is how the curriculum becomes increasingly participant-led from week to week, allowing students to guide each other and explore topics that align with their passions.
“Not only are the students standing at the front podium physically leading the class in debates and activities, but they are also steering much of our content by selecting and researching the issues that matter most to them,” Sipiorski said.
Hayward agreed, admiring how students develop autonomy over their learning in the class.
Now a deeply rooted part of the MHS social studies department, the Legislative Semester is a favorite among students and teachers. Several MHS alumni have pursued careers in politics inspired by the class, and many students leave both more confident in their values and open to new ideas.
“It’s a really engaging way to talk about civics, which I think is a really important topic for students to engage with and carry with them outside of high school,” said Hayward.
The Present: National Attention
On Oct. 2, the Legislative Semester gained sudden online attention when the political nonprofit organization Moms for Liberty criticized the class on X, accusing it of violating students’ privacy. Many readers who weren’t aware of the class’s context misconstrued that the curriculum pressured students to adopt specific political opinions.
Following this virality, Fox News reported that the Legislative Semester “required students to present their [political] choices publicly.”
However, this description of the curriculum is incorrect; while the class focuses on encouraging students to advocate for their beliefs in front of others, public declarations are not required, and students can engage in discussions while only disclosing their personal beliefs to the extent of their own comfort.
As the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District explained in a statement issued to Legislative Semester students and families on Oct. 6, “Any students who requested to opt out of the activity were able to do so.”
Although the widespread attention toward this misunderstanding has subsided, the incident left some MHS students confused about the status of the Legislative Semester.
The center of the original dispute was a bulletin board in the school hallway where students pinned their name on a political spectrum. Some students believed the spectrum would no longer be part of the curriculum, or even that the Legislative Semester would be canceled entirely, but members of the MHS social studies department denied both rumors. No major course changes will arise from the online scrutiny, largely because many critics had not realized that opting out of public party declaration was already an option for students.
The class’s viral moment in October called for consideration of student comfort in a tense political climate, but it also brought discussion about easy access to misinformation in social media. Neither of these ideas are foreign to the Legislative Semester educators, who work to make all students feel welcome to share their thoughts.
“Starting in 2024, we have put much greater emphasis on media literacy and source evaluation,” Sipiorski said.
The Future: What’s Coming Next?
According to the Legislative Semester teachers, students should not expect major changes to the course. The key takeaways, which include community participation, civil discourse and media literacy, are widely applicable and relevant to help teens become wiser members of society.
Like any class, however, the Legislative Semester will continue to expand and evolve with the world of government and media.
“We are always looking for ways that we can more incorporate additional aspects of our real-world system that had previously been lacking,” said Sipiorski, who emphasized increasing awareness of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content and political polarization caused by disinformation.
Hayward mentioned that the team also plans to shift more classwork to virtual platforms rather than pen and paper. He wants to find a balance between reducing their paper waste and preserving students’ experience with traditional academic skills.
Ultimately, the Legislative Semester is here to stay, and the passion both educators and students show for it proves its importance. Participants learn to develop their values while allowing their opinions to adapt from hearing new perspectives.
“They don’t have to agree, but [they] at least try to understand where [their peers] are coming from,” Hayward said.
With both a firm history and a promising future, the Legislative Semester at MHS aims to impact how students engage with their communities beyond high school.
As Sipiorski put it, “We hope that alumni of this course can be ambassadors who fight against the polarization and political tribalism that so many Americans display today, and that they continue to engage in civil conservations with people of varying political perspectives.”
