The First Debate: A Teacher’s Perspective

Gabe: Hi, Mr. Berman. What did you think of the debate?

Mr Berman: I think it was what we expected. We kind of got two points of view. One from Hillary who has a lot of experience in government and Trump-someone with a lot of experience in business.

Gabe: What was your impression of each candidate’s mannerisms?

Mr. Berman: I think it started off classy but that all changed after the first five minutes. It fell off a cliff after some “digs” were made. The  “handcuffs” were taken off after Hillary made a comment about Trump’s father’s loan of 14 million dollars. After that there was a lot of interrupting. But, that’s who he is: he believes what he believes and a lot of people love that about him. Having said that, nothing was unexpected.

Gabe: Was the moderator more focused on one specific candidate? Was he tougher on one candidate?

Mr. Berman: That argument could be made. But, he did a good job in talking about both candidate’s past. On a side note, I think Lester Holt is one of the best journalists and I really respect him.

Gabe: At the end of the day, do you think our daily lives will change when either candidate wins?

Mr.  Berman: It’s hard to say but I think one of the candidates will change our lives more, for the better or worse. I don’t want to give my vote away because I don’t think it’s fair yet. We have students who can vote and it wouldn’t be fair to them if I told them what I think.

Gabe: Thank you

By: Gabe Apoj (12th grade)