Studying how editorial cartoons can be used to influence societal discussions is a popular lesson in North Carolina high schools (maybe cartoons are part of the statewide curriculum?). My rising sophomore had to draw his own political cartoon last fall as part of his freshman civics class, in fact. As I recall, his cartoon involved Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin and a misfired rifle, but I can't for the life of me remember the punchline. You could probably create your own just imagining his picture.

Matthew Durkin, a World History teacher at Franklin Academy, sent in the two most creative and relevant cartoons from his most recent class. Because we are quite fond of editorial cartoons here at The N&O and want to see this particular form of comment succeed in the coming decades, we're going to post them here. Maybe the next generation will be inspired. The first is by Ashley Kabat, the second by Anna Brown.