I once read an opinion piece that suggested that borders shouldn’t exist and that humans should have the right to live anywhere they want. After all, we live on this planet together and should all have the freedom of movement to go anywhere at any time.

I’ve always remembered that because perhaps in an ideal world that would be true, but I live in this world. And this world is complicated. This world has borders. Some stringent. Some invisible. Others disappearing. Some fluctuating. The point is, we are constrained by a often times, very human invention.

These borders have always held a fascination for me. Geography was always something I was good at. Not great. But definitely better than many in my class. When I was younger I lamented the breakup of Czechoslovakia because it meant I had to relearn European geography. Later, when I learned some of the history, politics, and ethnic background of region that I understood why it not longer existed.

These borders are so very important to our world yet we are allowing the elimination of social studies education in lieu of more math work and ELA (English class to us older folk). A great shift in our educational model to a data driven one has focused our attention from abstract things like culture to only things that are easily measured.

Will students be able to answer this question in the future? Maybe. Or maybe their educational opportunities were so narrowly focused that they were not exposed to an entire world of borders. Within those borders that now are not studied are new ideas, dreams, languages, and histories. Sadly, we are relying on an idea that our children will grow to be curious and will learn these things on their own.

As for me, I’m not convinced. I’d much prefer to have students spending time learning about borders. My life is richer having imagined a life around the world.

Where would I live in the world? I live everywhere because I study social studies.

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