Here are a few questions:
1. What are you doing to turn the inauguration into a learning opportunity?”
2. Are you integrating the inauguration into your curriculum?”
3. Are you treating Inauguration Day as a holiday? Why or why not?
4. What are your personal feelings triggered by the transfer of power?
This last one is more personal and, political feelings aside, I’ll share my thoughts.
I can count nine transfers of Presidential power in this country that I can remember. The first one was following the Kennedy asassination. Specifically, I have four memories:
- the next door lady crying on her front steps
- my parents watching the TV, Mom crying, and me watching
- attending the funeral (we were on the White House lawn)
- asking many questions about how Johnson actually became president: “How did he know that he was to be president? Who was in charge of making him president? Did Johnson become President when Kennedy was shot? When he died? Or only when the Judge made him president?”
Even then, I was curious and awed by the transfer of power. I remain fascinated by it and I don’t take the process for granted. Johnson to Nixon was a simple election. Nixon to Ford was not simple and more than a few people feared that Tricky Dick might interrupt our centuries of nearly seemless rule of law by trying to hold onto power.
But, his and Agnew’s resignations ultimately went smoothly. Then, Ford to Carter, Carter to Reagan, Reagan to Bush, Bush to Clinton, Clinton to Bush, and then oops, one of the bigger problems in our history of successions…a disputed Presidential election. The Bush-Kerry election of 2004 with a recount that, if continued, could have swung the election the other way. Massive intervention on the political, legal, and arguably, from the streets with the crowds. In any case, the moment passed and a decision was reached. I was more struck than others by that moment as one when the rules were not clear and the transfer of power was not a given. I’m proud that we reached a decision and moved on.
And now, the transfer is happening again. Whatever your politics or perspective, it is truly an awesome thing when the presidential power is transferred from person to person. The American President controls so much power, it’s spine tinkling to me to watch the baton get passed with a sense that for all the flaws in our democracy, this fundamental operation works.
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January 17th, 2009 at 3:55 am
[...] The Inauguration & Homeschooling By homeschool10x Hats off to the great questions and thoughts on homeschool online about this week. She asks the queston about The Inauguration & Homeschooling. [...]
January 20th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
We have been talking a lot about the inauguration and, of course, watched it today. It was an awesome experience. I probably made my kids crazy because I kept emphasizing that they were witnessing an amazing piece of history. It’s been really neat, too, because we’ve been learning about slavery for the past couple of months, so they are acutely aware right now of the magnitude of President Obama’s election.
We’ll also be comparing and contrasting Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” and Hughes’s “Let America be America” with Elizabeth Alexander’s wonderful inaugural poem.
Thanks for visiting my blog and sharing your thoughts, btw.