Oberlin, Democracy, and Math

It was a relatively short drive from Detroit to my next destination, Oberlin, Ohio, where I have an aunt and uncle who were generous enough to host me on, of all days, election day 2012. For anyone who is not familiar with how US presidential elections work, every four years we ask voters in the state of Ohio to determine who will be the president of our country for the next four years. Other states sometimes hold mock elections on the same day for fun and to make themselves feel better, but in general nobody cares about them or their votes because they don’t actually matter. Since my uncle Ken is very active in politics in Oberlin, I decided this would be good chance to throw myself into the action and see what this democracy thing is all about. This involved literally running around from house to house, making sure people knew they were registered, knew where the polls were, had a means to get there, and sometimes giving them a little nudge if they were on the fence about whether to vote. We even gave a 35-year-old first-time-voter a ride to the polls, who was apparently inspired by a Michael Jackson movie that was on TV the previous night (well, that and my uncle Ken’s inspiring words). After she voted, she said something like, “Who knew voting was so easy?” So overall it was a fun and pretty satisfying experience. After the polls closed, we had dinner at a nice restaurant and went over to the mayor of Oberlin’s house to watch the results come in and celebrate a good day’s work.

The next day, Ken and I obliterated a couple of tree stumps in the backyard and then taught fractions to 3rd graders while chasing them around a gym. Ken runs an after-school fraction/athletic club that is based on the idea that kids won’t necessarily develop a hatred for math if they don’t experience it as a hard, boring, and frustrating thing. So he gives them problems that they know how to solve, but doesn’t call them problems and includes them as part of a game, like a relay race across a gym. Once a kid has mastered one level of problem, they move on to the next and slightly more challenging level. I think it’s a brilliant idea and was impressed with how well it works even if one of the coaches (i.e. myself) is comically unprepared to keep up with the fast pace of the games. It’s something I would definitely like to try again sometime.

Sorry, apparently I had no time for pictures on this visit, except for this public service announcement posted in the elementary school on the proper technique and etiquette for executing a standard high five. I think you’ll find that the last rule is counter-intuitive, but the rest are just common sense.