Where I Stand
And What I'm Voting For
People will often try to convince us that education is not (or should not be) political, but that is just completely untrue. Education is by its very nature political in that politics and politicians shape the way education is implemented in schools and universities across our country.
What follows is something I feel it is important for me to say. It is overtly political, and only part of it has to do with education, but all of these positions inform how I go about my work as an educator—with the commitment to repair unjust systems or build new structures to support the learning for all students everywhere and to lift up the teachers who are working hard in classrooms every single day.
This feels like the most consequential election of my lifetime. I wish I were exaggerating about that, but I don't remember ever feeling so anxious about any moment in our country's history before.
I'm voting for Kamala Harris next week for lots of reasons. At the very top of my list, though, is my belief that women should have the right to make health care decisions for themselves (including abortions), that they have the right to bodily autonomy, the right to freedom of choice, the right to live life according to their own wishes and desires. Nobody should be able to take away these fundamental rights--but they have, and it's our job to make sure that a) no more are taken away and b) we can reverse the ones that have been taken over the past number of years. Of course, I’m thinking especially of my wife, daughter, and the women in my family and friend groups, but this goes far, far beyond my own personal sphere.
My vote is for all of my friends of different backgrounds, different races, different sexual orientations, different identities of all kinds who deserve to live without fear, without mockery, and without wondering if they'll be the next group to lose their rights.
My vote is for education, the field to which I have devoted my life. We need more freedom in schools, not less, more willingness to tackle important ideas, not less, if we want to craft a better world and help our students to build meaningful lives.
My vote is also for my fellow men. Boys are often taught that vulnerability is weakness, that might makes right. But that's just not true. We are stronger as men when we live our lives with compassion, empathy, and love at the center of all we do. We will never be perfect--I am far from it--but we will always move in the right direction if we have those values as our north star. Kamala Harris is the kind of model we need in the presidency to create a new way of understanding masculinity--one that lifts up rather than punches down.
My vote is for democracy and for the future of this country. As I've grown older, I have come to understand that patriotism means critically questioning, loudly questioning, the injustices that have always been a part of the fabric of America. At the same time, I remain ever optimistic that the country can realize the great promise embedded in the idea of the American experiment. That will never happen if we elect someone who simply does not care about anyone other than himself and his rich buddies.
I worry about the future, but I have hope--always--that we will come together to do the right thing for our neighbors and our families and our friends.
Let's do this.