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The evening as a whole opened my eyes and gave me insight to a world I did not really know: politics. I enjoyed the diverse set of opinions and views on the world and how it can be improved. I found their discussion of the education system very interesting and enlightening.
First, I found Bilal D. Sekou’s opinion as a teacher in the system helpful so he could see each generation’s opinion and not just his own. He mentioned how the use of student-led projects help the students understand the system of democracy and politics while not creating a competition to it like in actual elections. I do think the education system at Watkinson encourages a lot more due to its creativity and critical thinking over a fact based education as we were discussing during Tuesday’s class. Watkinson gives us all opportunities to have the mentioned civil discourse while also allowing everyone to speak freely about their ideas and not be shut down if the teacher or fellow students don’t agree.
Most of Watkinson is good at respecting others. Most of the student and faculty body listen to each other and then offer feedback and different views so not to oversaturate the climate with a certain opinion. There are a few students and teachers that push against this. I don’t know if they do this intentionally, they probably don’t, but it does cause an unhealthy discourse amongst students and faculty, causing the community to share less freely. Critical thinking, with some guidance, could improve in some classes. In sciences and math, it is as strong as can be. In more standard English and history classes, answers sometimes seem to be given or handed over to the students if the teacher or a student does not think everyone is understanding the idea--or just their idea. I do think the school needs a better understanding of the American system as mentioned by Sekou.
A lot of schools have a Civics course, and Watkinson sort of does. I think it could be a part of the American or World History set up so to understand all of the stuff going on throughout history. Overall, I found the night eye-opening and wonderful to better understand our world.