After the fun and festivities of Thanksgiving, Sonia and I focused again last week on the Khan Academy American History videos we have been watching. Now, all teachers know that learning in a classroom is a two-way street – that the teachers learn from the students while the students learn from the teacher.
This is proving to be true for me and Sonia. She is an extremely intelligent woman; even though she is functioning in a second language, she is often ahead of me with the questions she asks or the conclusions she draws.
When we met last week, we continued to talk about the founding of the British colonies in America. After absorbing the explanation I was providing her about the motivations for the formation of the colonies, she interrupted me by saying “Now, I need to ask you a question, Karen. Why did Queen Elizabeth I and King James I feel like they had to right to claim land far away from England, where other people were already living?”
I paused, trying to figure out how to explain this. What I came up with was simply that they believed that they had a “divine right” (a right given by God) to take whatever they wanted if they felt it was in England’s interests.
Sonia took this in, and then commented, “Kind of like Putin, right?” Let’s just say that Sonia is from a part of the world that is very aware of Putin’s desire for Empire.
I responded, “well, maybe that’s the nature of leaders who feel like they have absolute power.” She thought for a minute and then said, “well, maybe that’s the nature of human beings.”
In a few weeks, we’ll start to talk about how the British colonists began the process of removing the Native Americans from their tribal lands – a process that would continue through the 19th century. I think the same question will come up.
I bet you wish you knew Sonia.
Yes, I do. She sounds as if she would be fun to know and very interesting.
How rewarding Sonia must be as a student. 😊