On my 18^th birthday, I practically sprinted to
the school library to register to vote. I don’t think I was really as excited
about the democratic process as I was about the right of passage it marked. It
happened to be just a few months before a presidential election, and all of a
sudden I started to notice the ads and the news stories and quickly became
aware of how complex voting could be.

It hasn’t gotten any easier as the years have passed, but I still
feel some of the excitement I had the first time I cast my ballot.  I’m sitting here today with my voters’ guide,
filling out my ballot, and feeling some of the weight of responsibility that
comes with being a citizen of a free nation.

There are issues and candidates on this ballot that will impact
public education.  How each of us chooses
to vote will say a lot about what we think of public education, and what we
hope it will become.  It’s causing me to
reflect not on charter schools or tax systems, so much as the big picture of
what we do as educators.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the pressures of the job
sometimes. Concerns about test scores, crumbling buildings, class sizes, and
lack of resources are all significant issues that deserve our attention, but
let’s remember what we are really doing.

When we teach our students to read, we are preparing them to
pick up a voters’ guide, read it, and understand it. We are teaching them to
choose information sources carefully, consider meaning, synthesize information,
and read between the lines.

When we teach math, we are laying a foundation for our
students to understand the relationship between taxes and spending, developing
their reasoning skills, and preparing them to carefully consider the validity of
statistics or poll numbers.

When we teach social studies we are helping them to understand
their importance in the community and their responsibility to participate and
work for the good of all.

In science we teach them to test even their own assumptions
and demand replicable evidence. We teach them to question, to observe, and to
analyze information in all areas of life, not just when growing plants or dropping
parachutes from the roof.

In writing we teach them the power of their voice, and the
importance of participating in public discourse. We are teaching them to voice
an opinion, to understand another’s perspective, and to bring together art and
function so that ideas can be shared, critiqued, and refined.

This election season we can remember that we aren’t just
teaching so that our children can pass a state test, go to college, or get a
good job. We are teaching so that our nation can continue to grow.

So all you teachers out there, whatever grade, whatever
subject: consider the weight of the work you are doing, and be proud of your
part in the life of our nation. Oh, and please – Go Vote!