Evidence of Shifts 2

In April 2004 during the course of our Sharing Cultures Project exchange, South Africa held national elections, and the U.S., with the Primary Elections over (Primaries in which not a single one of my students participated), was gearing up for our November Presidential Elections. I created a new discussion on the Sharing Cultures Project board, in addition to the regular coursework discussions, asking students to share their thoughts and feelings about the process of elections and voting. After having been in South Africa in March 2004 and feeling hope and vibrancy from the students there, I was especially interested in my students' responses. I returned to my U.S. classrooms with an even greater awareness that while comparatively my students had very real dreams for their futures, there was here in the U.S. a palpable absence of hope for the future and a certainty that their individual voices had nothing to do with the political, social, or economic development of our country beyond their own personal spheres.

In their postings, with more than 40 students commenting in the course of two hours, the South African students overwhelmingly supported the need to, desire to, and responsibility for voting, as well as stating some ramifications of not voting.

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Student 1

From my point of view voting is very important to everyone because we as the people get to have a say on who gets to lead us. …All in all what i am saying is let us use our freedom to the our advantage, let us speak out, let us be heard. Then we can say that we are proudly South African. As far as the US is concerned, all I know is that you have Bush and there are US troops in Iraq. This shows that if you don't care about the politics the politics will care about you.

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Student 2

Yesterday was my first time voting and I could not wait to go and vote because iI have always heard my parents talking about voting. I woke up yesterday and went to the voting station where the line was long so I had to wait because everyone wanted to vote. Finally I got a chance to cast my vote. After I was finished, it felt great knowing that I had input on who was going to rule the country. When I was younger, I did not understand what was so special about voting but now I know it’s a way of expressing your freedom and I am glad that I went voting because I now feel totally South African. …Voting is the way to express your voice.