State Senator David G. Argall is facing backlash following an inappropriate question he posed to a middle school aged student during the Schuylkill County round of the National Civics Bee on Wednesday evening.
The event, held at Penn State Schuylkill and organized by the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce, was meant to highlight civic engagement among young students—but one exchange has now taken center stage for all the wrong reasons.
According to the Chamber, students from across Schuylkill County and nearby regions submitted essays on how they would use civics to improve their communities. The top twenty finalists were selected by a panel of volunteer judges, which included Senator Argall, to present and defend their essays in front of a live audience.
One sixth-grade student presented on the controversial topic of book banning, impressing the audience and judges enough to make it through two rounds of competition. But during her defense, Senator Argall posed a question that has sparked widespread criticism.
According to the student's mother, who shared her account on social media, Argall asked her daughter whether it would be "appropriate to give pornographic magazines to kindergarteners"—a question the mother described as "wildly inappropriate and ridiculous." The student, caught off guard, reportedly asked for clarification, to which Argall replied, "naked pictures of people."
The mother’s post continued: “Her paper had nothing to do with pornography… This discussion has no place at the Civics Bee. I am further appalled and furious that I now have to explain pornography to my 4th grader who was there to cheer on her sister.”
Senator Argall issued a public apology Thursday afternoon, acknowledging his misstep:
“During last night’s local round of the National Civics Bee, I posed a question as a volunteer judge to a participant that was not age-appropriate for this setting. I apologize to the young lady, her family, and all the participants who worked hard to get to this point, with excellent presentations by the students who submitted entries on book bans and many other important subjects."
He added:
“I was attempting to ask if some books and magazines are not appropriate for some age groups, a subject which has received considerable attention in the General Assembly in recent years. In hindsight, my obvious mistake was in citing an example that was itself not appropriate for this age group, a mistake which I will not make again.”
The student at the center of the incident will continue on to the next round of the competition in Harrisburg on June 13th. Her mother concluded her statement with hope that future judges “can put aside their personal biases to support these kids and their hard work.”