This is the first time in my life as an educator & a parent that I have felt tremendous & absolute pride in the country that I represent & have brought my child into. What I am about to say may seem overstated, but I feel in my bones, in my cells, new hope for the survival of our planet & its childrens’ children. We have a chance to create a different fate than the tragic one we have been hurling ourselves toward. I believe that having a profoundly intelligent, well-educated, international president can cultivate a deep, lasting respect, desire & commitment to learning in this country.
While teaching yesterday, I was reminded of just how urgent our work is as educators: a freshman student asked, “What is Watergate?” I asked the class to raise their hands if they had the same question & numerous hands went up. While there are wide gaps in my own education, I struggle to imagine a college student in 2008 that has never even heard the word Watergate—a part of recent history that dramatically eroded our nation’s confidence in its own leaders & resulted in a president’s resignation. How ironic to have a student ask this question on the very day our nation is choosing its next president, a leader to replace one who betrayed our nation & the world & should have been impeached, not pardoned.
Our ignorance is deadly. Our work as educators has never been more essential than now. Finally, we have a leader who believes in what we do.
(for Shoba)
