A great array of posts were generated this week across the many Stepping Stone Partners blog sites. Enjoy!
The Inauguration was the big topic of the week. Along with the two posts on this blog, these three pieces explore the event from different perspectives:
Alex wrote about how Internet use during the inauguration revealed infrastructural weaknesses in our Internet system.
Sid finished his series of four posts with Thank God in My Lifetime.
Richard wrote a piece titled The Levers of Power.
Also this week Rita presented two posts focusing on the same event from different perspectives here and here.
The beauty of the outdoors in winter was expressed by Cindy here
And by Gerald, who took his photo class outdoors for a winter walk.
Finally, we are excited to announce the newest addition to our blog roll. Mike has launched On the road which goes ever on and on.
We’re told that as teachers you have to connect; you need to start where the students are at. This came home to me yesterday after the inauguration. My 16 year old students weren’t nearly as taken with events as I was. Curious, I asked them why?
One student said, “Why do they make such a big deal about a Black president? He’s just like everyone else.”
Another said, “I understand Black people being proud and all that. But why is everyone else so excited?”
My wanabee Marine said, “You liberals, why are you always living in the past?”
And finally I heard “Look, I’m just not racist. I am glad and everything, but I was never raised to be a racist and this just doesn’t do anything for me.”
Instead of going off on a jag about the legacy of institutional racism and how shallow kids are, I asked myself—if they are telling me how they really feel, then how can I help them. They saw the inauguration as one more heavy handed lesson from a bunch of adults about racism.
All I could think is that wasn’t it at all. If anything President Obama said was moving us right where these kids are, it was when he said
“…the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply”
And
“This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath. So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled.”
My students hadn’t framed the inauguration as a celebration—but as some civics lesson. Shame on us.
And so I asked them what would happen when they finished all their high school coursework?
They answered “that they would get a diploma.”
“Where?
“At graduation”
“Oh, there would be a celebration? Why? You have all your credits. Why not just move on and go to college?”
“It’s a ceremony.” one of them said. And another said, “But it’s for the recognition…” and then there was a pause and he said “Oh, I get it. The inauguration is like a recognition that there isn’t racism.”
And now I could say.. Yes, sort of. We are celebrating and commemorating all the progress that’s been made. You were all telling me in the beginning of this discussion exactly that. It’s a really big deal for people who have lived through these changes, fought and hoped for these changes. And just like you are going to college after high school, there is still work to be done. There is still racism but still, today is a day to celebrate what has been accomplished.
The atmosphere in my classroom lightened up. After all, today was a national party for the 44th president of the United States.
Four years of waiting. Then another four (who would have thought?) . I cringed nearly every time I heard George W. Bush on the radio, or read about his latest foibles in the news . Now, finally it is reality. Change is upon us, in the form of the 44th president of the United States, the first African American president, Barack Obama. What will the future bring? No one knows, however this remarkable man has already brought new hope to millions.
Today, at the Family Foundation School (where I teach chemistry and photography), the IT department streamed the inaguration event to the entire school population. The gym was filled with students and staff, and with anticipation. I had already been impressed with this man’s apperent wisdom, eloquence, and intelligence. But today took my respect for Barack Obama to a new level. Students as well as staff were cheering, applauding, and chanting as if they themselves were standing on the Mall in Washington D.C. Many of the students stood throughout the entire ceremony. The math teacher next to me was in tears as she listened to Barack’s inaguration speech, and I saw no one within my eye-shot that was unmoved by what they heard. A message of hope, a message of unity, a message of change.
The most remarkable aspect of the speech, aside from any promises made by Obama were the principles he laid out for us. Honesty, integrity, and hard work. Exactly what we are trying to instill in our students at the Family Foundation School. The parallel was amazing, and more than any of us could have possibly hoped for. Barack appears ready to get to work, and we must do the same in every aspect of our own lives. Barack’s promise of a better future depends on each and every one of us doing our own part. In our case, we believe this means reaching out to our students with caring love, and modeling the honesty, integrity, and strong work ethic that we all believe is the only way to a better future for ourselves, and our nation.
Listening, But Not Silent
