Letter from America
Trick or Treat or Trump Jason Morrow reports from Manhattan after the US Presidential election Halloween was once more an explosion of creativity in school with a mix of amusing, heroic, nostalgic and scary characters for our annual parade. My favourite costume this year was the Year 7 who dressed as the briefly celebrated red jumper wearing Ken Bone from Presidential Debate 2 in an election season that did at times come to resemble a Halloween Parade. Former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson famously observed that “A week is a long time in politics” and we all had a very dramatic reminder of that in early November. The result was a shock for many and it will inevitably take time for people to move forward from the rhetoric and acrimony of what was a bitter and divisive campaign. Many are already hoping that the more constructive and conciliatory tone of the early transition
is also central to the ethos and values of the institution. It is testament to the strength and integrity of the IB approach that it does also require us as educators and learners to reflect on and sincerely try to make sense of the world from the perspective of others. I have mentioned previously one of the IB Mission elements which I find particularly challenging to embed and ensure and that seems even more relevant at this juncture in US politics: “These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.” This is another of those areas in which learning in a school is so much a joint enterprise among teachers, students and parents. A number of New York schools found themselves embroiled in controversy in the days after the election as some had cancelled lessons or brought in counsellors to help students and staff deal with the election result. There is a genuine level of fear and anxiety among many communities and for individuals who are struggling to reconcile the values and approaches they had assumed were more deeply shared across the country with some of the rhetoric and policy proposals floated during the Trump campaign. One Head summed up the response to the election as being “aghast at the election’s affirmation of fear, bigotry, racism, sexism and hate.” It has undoubtedly been a difficult and at times painful experience to observe the 2016 election while trying to help students make sense of the process. One of the challenges presented by the election result, as with the Brexit vote in the UK, is to understand and seek to address
period can be translated into a genuinely inclusive, respectful and co-operative approach over the coming years. It may be partly due to my conditioning as a historian that I tend to look back at moments like this to see if there are other observations or episodes that might offer a different perspective or insight. One that keeps coming to mind, which some of you might appreciate, is from another former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, who commented in 1947 as the world confronted the uncertainty and fear of an emerging Cold War: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” In working with students, however, there are so many reasons to be optimistic and confident about the understanding, mutual respect and sense of fairness they bring to examining and discussing issues. It is one of the great benefits of working in an IB school that being principled, open-minded and caring
Spring 2017
59
