Teachable Moments

Today I spent about half of my math class with my first year students explaining the results of the election.  There are no Americans in that class, but they all knew about our presidential election and most knew the winner.  We talked about the Electoral College vs. the popular vote, and why the system is the way it is (I think “Why Tuesday?” even came up).  I explained why we knew the winner even though the Florida results weren’t in yet, and how

Then I asked them about their systems of government.  The girl from Japan said they don’t elect their leader, they just vote for a party.  The Italian student said the same thing, but explained that there are so many parties in Italy that they end up with coalitions between groups who then have to try to work together.  The Chinese student just laughed at the idea of being able to vote at all.  The Turkish student explained the King just chooses the next King.  But that’s ok, she said, because she likes the King.

I feel lucky today to be a citizen of a country where I can vote, and, despite the Electoral College, I feel like my vote matters.  I am also lucky to be in a place where I can explain our system to students from other countries, not as a “right” way, but as a different way.  A system that allows us to disagree respectfully and learn to be tolerant of other people’s views to move our country forward.  I am glad I was here during an election and could take advantage of this teachable moment.  I don’t think I expected the non-American students here to care much about our election, and I learned as much from them as they learned from me.