Presidential Candidate Jerome Segal Speaks At Stuyvesant

Stuyvesant fosters a rich political tradition: students are politically involved and curricula are designed to make sure every Stuyvesant student graduates as a politically informed individual. In part to maintain this tradition, Stuyvesant hosted presidential candidate Jerome Segal on October 11. Segal is the founder of the Bread and Roses/Peace and Justice party, which, according to the party's website, is an “Electoral Party for both New Socialists and Non-Socialists, A Party with a Strong Utopian and International Orientation, One in Pursuit of a New American Dream.” Several teachers brought their class to attend Segal’s lecture.

Social studies teacher Eric Wisotsky knows Segal personally and decided to invite him to Stuyvesant to talk about his ideas. A crucial point of Segal’s talk was that success is defined by the individual rather than the society, which called students to view society and themselves differently. “[Segal’s] vision of America is something very different [from] what we have. It’s economic but it’s based on values,” Wisotsky said.

Wisotsky also noted that Segal is a third-party candidate. “It’s exciting. It’s a presidential candidate, no matter how small or non-existent his chances are,” Wisotsky said. “Even if he weren’t running for president, I would have brought him in to talk.” He brought his class to hear Segal speak because it fit with what he was teaching and allowed students to hear a different perspective.

Health teacher Barbara Garber also took her ninth period class to the lecture. Garber brought her students because she wanted them to become more informed about the upcoming presidential election. “I thought it’d be a good idea to expose them to this candidate’s point of view [because] it is very important to have a political grasp of what’s going on,” she said. Garber felt that Segal’s lecture allowed students to learn about the current political climate and saw it as an opportunity for students to think critically about politics.

Garber found Segal’s point of view to be profound and unique. “The idea of incorporating socialist ideas into a basic democratic framework—I like that and I wanted the students to understand that it is not socialism. It’s just some socialist ideas that [I believe] will help everyone in the country,” she said.

Junior Yume Igarashi attended the lecture as a student in social studies teacher Lisa Shuman’s class. Igarashi believed that the lecture provided a new perspective on topics she was taught in her Participation in Government class. “It addressed important and arguably unconventional socioeconomic [and] financial concepts,” she said.

Igarashi also found it beneficial for teachers to promote more student attendance at guest lectures. “[They] can provide fresh, enlightening perspectives that are related to, but not explicitly included in, the lessons and [curricula] of their official classes,” she said.

Ultimately, Segal’s lecture has sparked a conversation about enriching the traditional educational experience. “I’m very grateful that at Stuyvesant, teachers bring guest speakers to engage in conversations around multiple perspectives, [because] part of what I consider a meaningful educational experience is being engaged in divergent viewpoints and hearing from people with levels of expertise,” Principal Eric Contreras said. “I’m always grateful when teachers invite guest speakers into classroom spaces to enrich the conversation and learning experience.”