Your voice as an aspiring educator matters
At least twice a year, registered voters have the opportunity to go to the polls as one way to engage with our democracy. We decide who to vote for as they will lead our futures and influence the lives our loved ones, friends and students. We should not take the ability to vote for granted. We must educate our communities to understand how much of an impact politics has on aspiring educators in particular and public education overall.
For example, the state budget that was recently passed by the New Jersey Legislature and signed by the governor includes funding to provide stipends to student teachers. Having such stipends become permanent rather than something that needs to be passed year-by-year is not only an opportunity to be more fairly compensated for aspiring educator’s labor but also to be taken more seriously as we enter the field of education. But if aspiring educators chose not to vote or do not pressure our Legislators on issues that matter to us, we are harming our futures and our chance to use our voices.
Voting is just one tool we use to engage with our community and hope to change the world for the better. As aspiring educators, we are empowered by changing the world, but we cannot change the world if we do not use our toolkit.
While New Jersey is a pro-public education state overall, there have numerous attempts in some communities in our state to ban books or and attack diversity initiatives. That is why we must vote. We need elected representatives and leaders who support academic freedom and will not prevent teachers from doing their jobs—jobs that are hard enough already.
Public education is at the center of our democracy. Current educators, including school librarians and other professionals, express considerable concern for the future of public schools. We must not take for granted the protections we have, especially as some politicians threaten those protections.
There are candidates who want to create positive change in our communities and on the state level and the federal levels. The National Education Association’s endorsed presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, was a part of an administration that protected students and staff during the COVID pandemic, expanded school lunch programs, fought for teacher diversity and against the anti-LGBTQIA+ policies in certain states.
NEA and NJEA PAC have also made endorsements of pro-public education candidates at the congressional level.
Of course, we never tell our students who we vote for, but as role models it’s important for them to know that we vote. If we want to remind our students how important their voice is, we must use our voices at the polls this November.
Drew Kazim is a student at The College of New Jersey where he majors in secondary education history. Kazim is the political advocacy chair for NJEA Preservice and represents preservice members on the NJEA Government Relations Committee and the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee.