Education Priority
Quality Healthcare
Taking Care of Veterans
Criminal Justice Reform
Percentage vs. Winner-Take-All
THIS CHOIR TEACHER IS CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO
Education
I’ve been a teacher for 14 years. Nothing is closer to my heart than public education in Oklahoma. It is imperative that we fully fund our schools and make public education the priority it deserves to be. It’s time to table the testing and replace it with more recess. Acknowledge the many studies that show how kids learn best and trust our teachers to do what’s right for the students of Oklahoma.
Poverty
The majority of lower middle class citizens are just one emergency or unforeseen event away from homelessness or bankruptcy. I have students who are at a different address every other week, are in and out of school, come to class exhausted and wearing shoes that are falling off their feet. It’s hard to remember how to do Algebra when you can’t remember the last time you had a decent meal. If we’re to solve the problems of the “failing schools,” we need to look first at the needs that are not being met before they ever get to school. These people are our future and we are letting them drift in the dust.
Social Justice
When I look at my students, I see people that are trying to figure out who and what they are. Some walk out my door and the world lies at their feet. Others are not so lucky. We are not pigs on some animal farm, where some are more equal than others. We should honor the people of this state regardless of who their parents are, how much money they have, where they were born, the color of their skin, their religion, their gender, or their sexuality. A person is a person with hopes and dreams, if only we’d stop to LISTEN.