Jersey Jazzman: Teaching In the Age of Trump

Jersey Jazzman: Teaching In the Age of Trump:

Teaching In the Age of Trump

Last week, Mrs. Jazzman and I decided to indulge one last time before we start our new years diets, and found ourselves in line for the best hot dogs north of the Bronx County line. As I waited for my turn at the condiments station (get the red relish), I overheard a conversation between a nice young woman working the counter and a nice young man working the grill.

To my best recollection, it went like this:

WOMAN: ... yes, he's crazy and disgusting, but I can't just vote on that. I have to vote on policy. 

MAN: Well, what did he say about policy that made you want to vote for him? 

WOMAN: Health care. Health care is a mess. 

MAN: But we have universal health care now. He wants to take that away. 

WOMAN: No, he wants everyone covered. But Obamacare isn't working. 

MAN: What's wrong with it? 

WOMAN: It's costing people a lot of money, and you don't get to choose your own plan, and everybody has to sign up for it. 

MAN: But that's the way universal health care works. Everyone has to be in it. It doesn't work unless everyone is in it. 

WOMAN: OK, but why does it have to cost so much then? I thought Obamacare was supposed to keep costs down...

And so on. It took all I had not to butt in and start flapping my mouth about things that I tell myself I have a better than average understanding of compared to the average person... but as every teacher knows, you usually learn more by letting a conversation spool out than Jersey Jazzman: Teaching In the Age of Trump: