|
A trip to Washington finds some high school teachers learning as much as their students - Washington Post Magazine, April 15, 2007
THE DAY JOSHUA FUCHS LANDS IN TOWN, the young high school teacher wanders alone along the Mall and among the museums and monuments, gazing in awe and wonderment at the iconic symbols of the nation's capital.
On this, his first trip to Washington, he is an innocent at home.
"You see it in pictures. Suddenly, it's all in front of you, all the symbolism," he marvels at the end of the day. "I was sitting by the water in front of Capitol Hill, taking it all in. I sat first looking up at the Capitol for 10 or 15 minutes, just looking at it, thinking about the influence this small little area has over so much of the country and the world."
Fuchs, 29, tall and lanky, looking almost Lincolnesque with a wisp of a beard, is one of five teachers and 84 students who have come here from California's inner-city Oakland Technical High School.
The Oakland contingent is led by Maryann Wolfe, 60, the head of the social science department, who has been bringing groups here since 1983. The others are Marietta Joe, 48, an English lit teacher; Parker Merrill, 59, an engineering instructor; and Harry Pasternak, 60, who teaches government and economics.
The students are juniors and seniors in AP or honors classes. But this is not your typical spring class trip to Washington. This is the nation's capital "Close Up," a program that annually brings 20,000 students and 2,000 teachers here from 11,000 schools to get an inside look at how their government works....
|
