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| Oh yeah. Too cool. |
I'm an educator. It's what I do, yes, but it's who I am as well. I cannot imagine doing anything else. I love to learn, I love to teach, I love to think. An illustration. I just came back from my spring break vacation. Last week, in the teachers' lounge, I sat with my coworkers and we discussed our spring break plans. One teacher was going to Mexico. One to Galveston. Several to Corpus Christi. Almost exclusively, if they were traveling, my coworkers were headed for a beach and a margarita. I went to San Francisco, to se my best friend.
While I was there, I toured a victorian mansion. I played with antique arcade games in a working museum. I toured a national park on Alcatraz island. I visited the California Academy of Sciences and experienced their earthquake simulator. I walked through an amazing Japanese tea garden and learned a little about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. In short, I learned an awful lot.
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| I can see the Golden Gate Bridge from here! |
Now, don't get me wrong, there's nothing the matter with a beach and a margarita every now and again. But if I spent an entire week in that fashion, I'd be bored to tears. No way I could do it.
When I ruminate on this I start to realize, that the true nature of an education isn't simply about what you learn in school. So much of your education is built around your life experiences. And our young people are getting less and less of that life experience.
64% of Americans don't have a valid passport. That's not to say they've never left the country - my passport is long expired, and yet I have been to a smattering of countries outside of this one. But when compared to say, the British, of whom only 20% don't have a valid passport, that number is a little embarrassing.
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| Do you have one? |
You might say something along the lines of "Oh but America is so large! You don't need a passport to be well traveled." And you would be right. I can't find any research to back me up, this is all anecdotal. But many of our students have never left the state of Texas. You might come back with, "Texas is the size of France! It's huge! There's lots to do in this state." And again, you would be right. But let me tell you a little story.
I worked for two years in an incredibly rural town. It's population was about 6000. The town was ten minutes away from a second town with similar population, but the second town was the county seat. So most business happened in this second town. To that end, the first town did not have a museum. It didn't have a zoo. No big deal, most small towns don't. It didn't have a movie theater. It didn't have a roller rink or a bowling alley or a mini golf course or an arcade. It didn't have a Walmart. It didn't have a bookstore or a clothing store apart from Goodwill.
No problem right? All those things are just ten minutes down the road. The high school had a summer program for several years where the upcoming 9th graders were taken on a couple field trips, to Ft. Worth and Dallas, to museums, zoos, etc. My coworkers were floored to find that the majority of the students participating, about half the freshman class, had NEVER left their hometown. Not even to go down the road to the county seat. They had never been to a bookstore. Or a museum. Or a bowling alley.
So much of our education happens outside of the classroom. I learned more about government on trips to Washington DC than I did in my government class. And it really all boils down to money. That summer program? It got cut due to lack of funds.
I've never been rich. But I have been very privileged. I've traveled to 26 states and 4 countries. I've attended symphonies, operas, ballets, and live theater. I've seen the natural beauty that this world possesses, and I've interacted with people of many different cultures. Our students NEED these experiences. Which means somehow, we need to fund them.
Samuel Clemens once said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." That is what I want for my students.
