Tag Archives: election

Speaking: Let There Be Light 

Several students were missing from my Introduction to Public Speaking class yesterday, and the ones who were present asked if I would scrap the lesson plan so we could watch a speech by Trump “to figure out how he got elected.

The students pick a speech Trump gave in Florida not long before the election, we watch 10 minutes of it, and then they talk.

Student from China: “Why is everyone so upset?”

Someone asks if we can watch “a good speech to compare.”  I suggest Obama’s “A More Perfect Union,” his speech about race from the 2008 campaign, we watch ten minutes of that, and then the students talk.

Someone asks for another suggestion, something different in style.  We watch the last few  minutes of Martin Luther King’s “I Have Been to the Mountaintop”, and then the students talk some more.

Obama and King appeal to our better angels, to history and education and inclusivity and progress. Trump, to anger and hate.

Student from California:  “Other nations are laughing at us.”

Student from Russia, who is watching one of Hitler’s speeches on her laptop:  “No one is laughing.”

I am exhausted.  I end class early, and as I leave the room, I realize the lights are off.

We have been discussing in the dark.

 

Obama’s “A More Perfect Union”

Conclusion of Martin Luther King’s “I Have Been to the Mountaintop”

 

Aftermath: State of the Student

One of my diligent students sent me the following email yesterday.

I apologize in advance. I am not in the state where I am comfortable or able to speak without breaking down in tears. I tried attending my classes today but didn’t stay in any one of them for the full duration.  I asked to leave mid-way.  As a Muslim immigrant from the Middle East who has experienced hate comments, this election puts me in so much unease and I am completely disheartened. I don’t feel entirely safe as well.

If it is possible, with your mercy, I would like to request approval for my absence tomorrow.

This breaks my heart.

WTF?

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

Worse than Daylight Savings.