Is this a democracy?
On the way to the Houston airport, the taxi driver told me that he didn’t know until a few years ago that Washington, DC was not in Washington State.
I would not have judged this man to be uneducated or even inarticulate. He was a well-dressed, white, 57-year-old American man born and raised in Houston. If the cornerstone of a democracy is that people are informed enough to make decisions, then I think this is a demonstration of where we are failing.
He also told me that he took his first airplane trip two years ago. I’m afraid that he represents thousands of Americans who love to comment on foreign affairs and the rights of people they do not know without having any real knowledge on these subjects.
A man born in Pakistan was student in my leadership class this week. Although he is now an American, his father is very high up in the Pakistan Army. I had a fascinating discussion with him about the fighting in the Swat Valley. I learned so much. Every time I learn like this, I realize how much about the world I don’t know. I can’t wait to learn more.
So what am I asking for? Please support educational funding and reform whenever possible. Please speak up when schools want to cut out classes that open student’s minds and hearts to the outside world and the variety of opinions that make up our diverse country. Please encourage people to seek many views, even those opposite to their own, before they make an opinion or vote.
I don’t have an answer for this. Yet, I had to say something about it. If you have something to say, please comment here. Somehow, we need to get this conversation going. America needs an upgrade. We may never get out of this financial crisis as winners if we don’t.
Dear Marcia,
As a retired educator (Queens, New York City) in an elementary school for 35 years, I am not surprised. My former school is located at the foot of the Triborough (now called Robert F. Kennedy) Bridge. It is near La Guardia Airport and 30 minutes from JFK Airport. Some of the parents of my students had never left Queens even though the train and bridge to Manhattan and The Bronx was right at their doorstep. Our district is still the most culturally diverse one in all of NYC and it was my pleasure to introduce all of my classes to the world outside their neighborhood through class trips. Yes, Marcia, I applaud you for speaking about supporting educational funding and reform. So many programs are going by the wayside and it is entirely possible to utilize the technology that we have today to introduce experiences to broaden the horizons of our students in a very positive way.
One type of schooling that is hard to find is vocational education. There was an article in the NY Times today about how vocational education bit the dust almost entirely in our schools in the 90’s. Where are the future plumbers, carpenters and mechanics going to come from if we are not providing the education to train them?
Here, here, Marcia! If we don’t teach Amercians how to learn, how to listen…how to know the world…how can we expect to be a contributing part of it? This is especially difficult in Arizona, where education is already funded at pathetic levels and still is always among the first items to be cut.
Of course, I have to hold myself to a higher standard as well and think, “what do I really know or understand of the world?”
Thank you for helping us think beyond ourselves and set us back to walking up that steep slope of better processes to understand and educate all.
In a way it’s hard to blame a world power for being culturally and politically imperialistic. When the world revolves around most every move you make, you start believing it’s the only one that counts.
I don’t think the taxi driver necessarily represents a current hole in education – I can imagine if that same conversation had taken place 20, or even 40 years ago, his comment might have been the same.
When I moved from the US to Switzerland 25 years ago, people asked me if I already knew Swedish. Heck, a few years before that I wasn’t even sure where the country was located in Europe!
Personally I deeply regret the cuts made in physical education (both in American and European schools). If children don’t learn at an early age to tend to their personal health, all the knowledge of the world won’t help in a society crippled by exhorbitant health care costs.
And now I’ll get off my soapbox.
This is a place for soapboxes. Since I travel around the world, I too have realized how little I know and how much I have to and want to learn. Everyone should have that experience. And I totally agree with you that we have to fix the health care situation. Keep sharing! That is totally how democracy works.
Marcia,
I couldn’t agree more with what you are saying. I have spent half of my life in Germany and half of my life in the US. And yet, I have spent my entire life bridging between the two cultures. I am always amazed how people think they know about the other, but how much they really don’t understand each other all that well. The same applies to all countries and cultures. I am a firm believer that we need to learn how to learn from each other across borders and any other cultural divides there might be. I support your plea for more education funding. I’d like to go a step further though. I believe all of us can do our part in bridging the understanding. For example there is a webportal, called epals http://www.epals.com/, where 16 million teachers and students from around the world are connected and learning together. I am not connected to this organization at all, I just think it is really cool and a step in a very positive direction. Why is this not even happening among US classrooms? It’s not always about more money. It’s also about one of us talking to a teacher we know and saying:”How would you like to be connected to 16 million kids?” or “How about connecting to a classroom in China to see what issues they are dealing with? ”
To me education is not about acquiring knowledge, but about learning from each other.