Election 2020: A Lot of Lessons

I am trying to imagine myself as one of my children. These are very interesting times. I heard one of my children two nights ago questioning the electoral college way of determining who wins in a presidential election. There is indeed a lot of talk out there especially in social media that suggests we abandon the electoral college since votes from various regions of the country do not seem to have the same weight. Then I told them that if the president is solely determined by the popular vote then a candidate may simply choose to cater to the interests of California, Texas, and the Northeast, because that is where most of the votes are. That made them think. Of course, candidates now focus only on a small number of "battleground" or "swing" states. I did not mention that. My children already have plenty to digest during these past few days and the weeks before election. There is, however, one lesson that is crystal clear to them. Every vote counts, but for a country to move forward, each vote must be well-informed.

There are so many people that sacrificed so much so that we can exercise the right to vote. We therefore have an obligation to exercise that right, but more importantly, we must exercise it with due diligence. 

There are indeed plenty of lessons to be learned during these times. My children not only have to know the number of justices in the Supreme Court, but they must also deal with the question that is now being asked: Should the Supreme Court be expanded? My children need to understand what the number of electoral votes for each state represent, but they now wonder if such procedure is really fair. These are just the civic lessons. There are, of course, questions regarding the economy, racial injustice, immigration, climate change, abortion, and a host of other issues.

We all do have the right to vote but clearly, we also have an obligation to keep ourselves informed so that our vote is carefully made. In this regard, public education becomes imperative. And it simply follows that there must be equity in education, because each member of the society participates in this very important process. 

Here we are in 2020, a country that seems to be split between red and blue:

Above copied from
Google

And here we stand with regard to education:

Above copied from
HigherEdInfo