You know, in this day and age, it’s pretty important to refrain from discussing “politics” for the most part in the classroom. I try to keep my own beliefs from muddying the waters or influencing students in one direction or another. I’ve had teachers in the past—both liberal and conservative—who made their views far too transparent, and it always rubbed me the wrong way, especially when I disagreed with them.
And so, in even discussing the current administration, it’s best to be as “neutral” as possible. But at the same time, there are moments when the connections are simply too obvious to ignore.
Case in point, we were discussing the main causes of WW1 today, and imperialism, which we spent an entire unit on, showed up. Of course I was going to mention the recent events that resulted in the “kidnapping” of President Nicolás Maduro. If the primary goal is eventual oil extraction by US companies (already publicly stated by the President), this is one of the clearest modern day versions of imperialism I can point to for them to understand. Crazy how sometimes real world events trump what’s happening in the classroom, no pun intended.
