I am an immigrant from the former Soviet Union. I am a refugee. And, I have dedicated my work to the field of education. Being a Russian-Jewish immigrant who has worked with young people and teachers across this country affords me a unique perspective, one that I hope will help me better grasp what this country is experiencing.
The presidential election is over. Mr. Donald Trump will succeed President Barack Obama as the leader of the United States. Yet the turmoil, uncertainty and division that have surfaced over the final months leading to November 8th has not subsided, in fact it is seemingly increasing. Journalists, pundits, and anyone with a Facebook account are all sharing their analysis of what happened last week and prognosis of what will happen next. While history supports the pattern of the incumbent party consistently losing ground relative to the challenger party, and that voters tend to align themselves with the candidate who represents change in a given election, nothing about the 2016 election was typical. Some of us are unpacking data from exit polls, hoping to find answers to questions like why so many white women voted for Trump?
Many Americans are now exercising their constitutionally protected right to disagree with president-elect Trump by protesting. The demonstrators are showing their solidarity with women, people of color, the LGBTQ community and immigrants. These protestors are sending a message that Mr. Trump does not have a national mandate and that his rhetoric and policies will not be normalized.
Others are calling for unity and acceptance. President Obama addressed the American people shortly after Mr. Trump’s victory, saying, “we have to remember that we’re actually all on one team…We’re not Democrats first, we’re not Republicans first, we are Americans first. We’re patriots first. We all want what’s best for this country.” CNN commentator Van Jones updated his mini-series on the differences between Trump and Clinton voters, encouraging Americans to listen to each other.
My position is as short as it is predictable; we must invest more resources in civic education.
In 1991, when I was a six-year-old Muscovite and did not know a single word in English, the Soviet Union communist superpower underwent radical transformation. Through a mostly peaceful revolution many Soviet republics gained independence and a free and democratic Russia was born. With the recent silencing of the opposition, state take-over of media, and the annexation of Crimea, the once hopeful democracy has regressed to an oligarchy. A few weeks ago a friend and current high school teacher shared an Economist article on Russia, Inside the bear. The most alarming part of the article was the fact that the majority of young people in Russia do not actually know how the country in which they reside came to be. The article notes a survey, conducted by the Levada Centre, the country’s leading independent pollster, which shows that “half the overall population and as many as 90% of young Russians know nothing about the drama that began in the small hours of August 19th 1991.” These data made me wonder if ignorance is a contributing factor to the support Mr. Putin enjoys from the Russian people. If one does not know the danger of totalitarian leadership, is not aware that 25 years ago Russia lacked freedom of press and was a failing communist empire whose people were suffering and dissidents imprisoned, then an ex-KGB strongman is nothing to fear. However, ignoring our history or being oblivious to it seems like a rather short-sighted solution.
The good news is I do not live in Russia, here is the bad news. A survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania found that Americans show great uncertainty when it comes to answering basic questions about how their government works. The survey revealed that “little more than a third of respondents (36 percent) could name all three branches of the U.S. government, just as many (35 percent) could not name a single one. Just over a quarter of Americans (27 percent) know it takes a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to override a presidential veto. One in five Americans (21 percent) incorrectly thinks that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision is sent back to Congress for reconsideration.” A report published by the Stanford Center on Adolescence and the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington-Seattle confirms this issue. “The report, Youth Civic Development and Education, describes the languishing state of civic education in the United States…”.
If we as a people do not know how our government works then how can we keep our elected officials accountable? Perhaps if more Americans knew that the president does not have the ability to make the military ignore the Geneva Conventions or direct soldiers to “take the families of terrorists”, Mr. Trump would have been held accountable for his apparent misunderstanding of how the government works.
Whether Mr. Trump meant everything he said during his campaign, simply played to his audience or as it seems, bit of both, he won this election. Educators across this country have a duty to teach young Americans not just how our government works but also how to be critical historians. We must teach our students to make informed decisions and empower them to be critical of those who dismiss facts or employ fear mongering as a rhetorical technique. Instead of referring to Hitler in the comments sections of social media we must teach our students how and why Hitler came to power. Instead of, or perhaps in addition to highlighting concerns about Russian hackers, Russian internet trolls, and Mr. Trump’s friendship with Mr. Putin, we must give our students the tools to understand the dangers of censorship and the importance of democracy.
Being oblivious to persecution or racism is a conscious choice, most often made by the privileged. It is intentional. As such, passively accepting the status quo is problematic. Oppression is often perpetuated by average, mostly innocuous individuals. Folks who think of themselves as good people and lack the skills to critically assess their positions. Best elucidated by Arendt, racism is not just evil men with little mustaches or white hoods. One need not be a fanatic or sociopath to be oppressive. The banality of evil is what makes this wicked problem so complex. Racism, misogyny, homophobia and anti-Semitism is enacted out of fear, and by folks who lack empathy, in large part because they are unaware of the history.
From the elite coastal bubbles to the south and rural Midwest, we must teach our students the responsibility and privilege of equitable civic engagement, and share with them the perils of disengagement. With the current spike in minority students reporting harassment after Mr. Trump’s win educators must urgently empower students to combat ignorance with knowledge.
Resources for teachers:
https://www.facinghistory.org
https://www.gilderlehrman.org
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html
http://alimichael.org/blog/what-should-we-tell-the-children/
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/US-election-teaching-resources-matt-davis
http://www.tolerance.org/blog/day-after
