A few Questions at Nelson High

"I don't want to say much, I don't want to steal the childrens time with you Mr. President," the young and pretty teacher said, "but I would like to thank you on behalf of my class and myself for coming in today." 

"Thank you for making this possible, Miss. Allen." President Bowmore answered with a smile. She was a bit intimidated by him and also very confused; he was friendly and down-to-earth, she hadn't expected him to be so...normal.

"I think we could start with you introducing yourself to the class, why you wanted to visit history class and...other things." Miss Allen was still quite flustered. She'd woken up that morning terribly nervous and horribly excited. She was the youngest history teacher at Nelson High, and the President was coming to her class. She'd told the prinicipal that it might be better if he went to Mr. Donaldson's class but he'd insisted that she host the event. 

"As you hopefully know, I'm the 48th President of the United States," he said, starting off with the basics. The kids laughed at his 'hopefully', "we are in History class, and the most important history for you all to understand is what is happening now." He said. "And to understand what is happening now, and equally as important; why it is happening now, we need to look into the past." Saying this he quickly glanced over at Miss Allen. She sat on the edge of her desk and was looking at him with big brown eyes. "I was in High School once too, a long time ago," he said, joking again which made the students laugh, "and I remember not liking it too much. My teachers made it a bit boring," he shot an apologetic look at Miss Allen, "I hope your Miss Allen doesn't put you all to sleep in her lectures," and then with a warm smile he added; "I'm sure she doesn't."

"Since I was interested in History I started to read in my free time and I realized a lot of the stuff we learned were not historically acurate, and, most of all, many things were skipped over. One of these things was black history. We looked at slavery were briefly, but that was it. I promised to change the history cirriculum if I became President and I will keep my promise. There will be more black history, and not just that, you will also have to learn," the class laughed again at his stressed and almost pityfull 'have to', "about world history. Every country tends to base it's classes on what happened within it's borders, we need to open up and look at other things too. Because doing that we can understand things like foreign relations better." His speech impressed the young teacher and all of the students sat upright and attentivly. Perhaps that was partially due to the camera crew in the back and due to the fact that they were happy to be on TV. "I'd like you to write down things you'd really love to learn about, maybe things you heard about at home, or maybe even researched. If you don't know an exact event you can also just jott down a country or nationality you'd like to know more about." After saying this he walked over to Miss Allen and asked her for a stack of lined paper. She looked at him suprisidly but gave him what he wanted. He took the papers gratefully and started to hand them out himself, giving one to each student personally, he continued to talk as he did so. "If you have any questions feel free to ask me, I will try my best to answer." 

The first question he got was a fiesty one. The second he was back at the front of the class one of the students in the back raised his hand. "Hello Mr. President. My name is Mike," he started, "and I'd like to know if this is just a publicity stunt. Why do the cameras need to be rolling?" Miss Allen looked shocked at Mike's question but the President smiled. 

"You having asked me that just confirmed my belief that Miss Allen is a good teacher." President Bowmore said with a chuckle. Mike smiled with the corner of his mouth, but he wasn't satisfied. He wanted to here the leaders answer, and he was ready to call him out if he didn't answer directly. "See, in my campaign I promised to improve the education in history. It's important for me to show that I'm doing this. I've already passed 'laws' regarding what has to be taught in history class, for example more black history. But many people don't want to read about new rules. So it was important for me personally, to go to a school in person, see what the kids at that school wished to have more of, and then see to it that this happened. And, Mike, if you want too, after my hour here is up, you and I can go to the rest of the History classes that happen today and I'll ask those young adults what they think, what they want, and we'll shut the cameras off for that." Mike was pleased by the Presidents answer. He crosssed his arms and leaned back. "Did I answer your question Mike?"

"Yes, thank you Mr. President." He said. "And I like your suggestion of going to more classes today."

"Then we'll do that. As long as it's okay for you to miss your next classes." He agreed with a smile. "Any more questions."

Most of the hands in the classroom shot up. President Bowmore let Miss Allen pick the next student, he didn't want to have to pick one out every time, especially because he knew he wouldn't be able to answer every question. 

"I also wrote this on my paper, but I wanted to ask you as well, Mr. President," the girl speaking was incredibly nervous, but she followed through with her question, "can we learn about 'new stuff' too? Because we spend forever on stuff like the World Wars or, uh, Native Americans but don't really talk about the War in the Ukraine or the Taliban."

"What's your name miss?" He asked before answering. Her name was Emily. "Well Emily, as I said before, we need the past to understand the present. But I agree, it's very important for you to learn about the things that occur today. I think one way to compare what happened back then to whats happening now, or, for example with the Ukraine war, to understand Russo-Ukranian history. Or with your second example, the Taliban, it's important to understand the situation in Afghanistan, the culture, the religion, and also the War in Afghanistan. I promise to make sure that you all get taught about things that happen in the present." He turned to Miss Allen, "perhaps you could so something like use one lesson a month on something that's currently going on in the world?" 

Miss Allen nodded her head. "I think that's a very good idea." She agreed. 

"Next question?" He asked, turning his attention back to the class. Not only the class but also the teacher were impressed by the President. He had good ideas and he was honest. He answered questions right and left until the hour was over, and then, as promised, the toured the rest of the school with Mike who got a special pass to come with. Miss Allen accompanied them as well. And not a single photographer tagged along.