- One Student's First Hand Experience .
Nothing can compare with the experience I had in Washington D.C. Within the first week of my arrival I learned more than any number of years behind a school desk could teach me. There are invaluable lessons learned through experience that simply cannot be replicated in the classroom. For instance, speaking to people who have actually "been there". Not only did I read about refugees in my texts, I spoke with one as well. Not only did I read about Corporate Social Responsibility, I spoke with an expert in USAID on the topic. Where learning in the classroom gives concepts, experience provides students with the opportunity to apply these concepts. My experience in Washington D.C. provided me with a concrete foundation for the knowledge I have learned at college. I will attempt to explain the value of my experience in D.C. by writing about a few of the first-hand experiences I had in our nation's capital. .
The Protest.
As part of my experience in Washington D.C. with the Lutheran College Washington Consortium, I was required to attend a protest. Thousands of people showed up September 29th in Freedom Plaza across from where I worked at the Ronald Reagan building. The streets were filled with all sorts of people from all different kinds of backgrounds to join in together to protest racism and the war in Afghanistan. .
At this point after September 11th, popular sentiment in the nation was leaning toward bombing the country of Afghanistan off the face of the earth. President Bush spoke of the "evil" enemy. The press portrayed pictures of Arabic people burning the United States" flag. When combined together with the emotional loss felt after September 11th, this created a need for vengeance amongst the collective conscience, and the need for a viable scapegoat. It seemed at the time that Arabic people were taking the role as the scapegoat for all the fear and anger that Americans felt.