'They Are Going To Be The Next Voters': Dallas ISD Teachers Encouraged Students To Watch Inauguration
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - For some Dallas ISD teachers, Inauguration Day has served as an educational moment for their students.
"As a professor, I like to steer them into acknowledging what's happening," said Manuel Benzvi who teaches at Judge Barefoot Sanders Law Magnet School.
Benzvi encouraged his political science students to watch the inauguration.
"It is important for them to be a part of the process because they are going to be the next voters," he said.
In the class on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 10th, 11th and 12th graders watched a short clip on how Inauguration Day has changed over the course of history and what its purpose is.
Then there was open discussion on how this Inauguration Day is unlike any other — and what this day means to students.
"We continue to live in a pandemic so this inauguration must have a lot of preventions in place beforehand in order to ensure the safety of President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris," student Anthony Hembree Said.
"I think today is different than the other inaugurations because we have our first female Vice President and not only is she female but she is a person of color," student Reuben Herriage said.
"To me it shows a glimmer of hope for people like me who live in a household where my parents speak predominately Spanish and not English and that I could hold a position like that if I tried hard enough," student Danya Garcia said.
Benzvi said this past year has been unlike any other and filled with a lot of sadness, but he hoped on Wednesday his students felt a sense of unity.
"That's what the country needs," he said. "What everyone is expecting."
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