They’re listening and they’re thinking

A Grade 5-6 class at Toronto’s Morse Street Public School has been learning about the election, writing letters to federal leaders and urging their parents to vote. If these youngsters are any indication of the electorate of tomorrow, democracy’s in good

Jane Forrest is worried about the Syrian refugee crisis.

It’s a big problem for a 10-year-old to take on. But Jane, an earnest little girl whose face is framed by a few unruly tangles of blond hair, has been thinking hard about it.

“They spend a year getting to Canada and people are just making them leave,” she said.

“I’m really worried about the children.”

Jane’s interest in Canada’s immigration policy was piqued this fall when she and the rest of her Grade 5-6 class at Morse Street Public School in South Riverdale began studying the federal election.

As part of a class project, each student picked the issue most important to them and wrote letters about it to the party leaders.

In response to Jane’s questions about Syrian refugees, the Liberals sent a lengthy message outlining their refugee policy. But she was disappointed with the correspondence from other parties. “I got a nothing response from Harper.”

Oliver Dickins, 11, wrote his letter about legalizing marijuana. He’s against the idea.

“Families have lost their children because they sneak out and do bad things and they die,” he said.

On the other hand, legalization could have some benefits. “It might stop a few problems, like the Mafia.”

Finleigh Smart is concerned about how much it will cost her to go to university, where she wants to study to be a chemist or an architect. She wrote Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to ask what he would do to keep tuition affordable.

“I’ll be going to university in — I don’t know, I’m 11 — in like seven years. It’s important that the tuition rates go down,” she said.

Jennifer McColl, the class’s teacher, said many of her colleagues shy away from talking politics with students. She admitted it can be tricky, but said she believes it’s important to “to tie what happens in the classroom to the real world.”

She kept her lessons non-partisan, however.

McColl said the kids are enthusiastic about democracy, especially compared to the cynicism of the adult electorate. “They see themselves as change agents. They believe that the world can be a better place,” she said.

Some of the kids are clearly itching to cast a ballot, even though they likely won’t get the chance for another two election cycles.

Finleigh makes a convincing argument that it’s undemocratic to prevent kids from voting.

“It’s technically not the majority if not everybody votes. . . . We don’t get a say, so it’s pretty much not the majority.”

Joell Kebret, a nine-year-old whom McColl describes as the class’s political junkie, said he reads newspapers and watches the news, and his parents even took him to Ottawa “to see one of the debates.”

He wishes he could vote, but he’s not sure all children should be trusted with the responsibility.

“Other little kids that haven’t learned about it . . . will like, randomly vote, and not know what they’re doing.”