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Let Them Eat Cookies
by Bryant Palmer
November 2004
On the morning of November 3, I began my sixth grade English classes with this writing prompt: “If I were president…” Here's a selection of responses from my students:
If I were president I would ban homework.
If I were president I would stop the war in Iraq.
If I were president I would fix everything that's happening in Iraq.
If I were president I would support gay marriage.
If I were president I would let people who are gay get married and not take away a woman's right to choose.
If I were president I would make sure abortion doesn't become illegal.
If I were president I would redecorate the White House and make it bigger.
If I were president I would cancel school.
If I were president I wouldn't start a draft.
If I were president I would work with other countries to make peace.
In case it's not clear from the responses, my students are overwhelmingly Democratic; I teach at a reform Jewish day school in Manhattan, after all. Still, standing in front of the classroom on Wednesday morning and listening to these young and hopeful and enthusiastic responses that reflect in so many ways tolerance and concern for the welfare of others, I was struck by how different the responses might be from sixth graders in a red state like, say, Alabama, where I grew up.
Several classes from different grades gathered in our auditorium to watch Kerry's concession speech that afternoon, and not once did a teacher have to ask a student to pay attention; we were all stunned into silence. By the end of the day, the most frequent comment I'd heard from students and teachers alike was, “I can't believe Bush won.”
Since the election, there's been much talk of the enormous gap between the beliefs of people in red and blue states. Some have suggested that we urbanites are out of touch with the average American. I'm not sure if that's true, but I am sure of this: I'm happy living in my blue state and teaching my blue students at my blue school, and win or lose, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Bryant Palmer can be contacted at bryantbpalmer3@hotmail.com.
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