interview
Hannah Kraus
na rok jako učitel v české škole
text:
Jakub Škvrna, Emily Mašková 2.A
Where are you from? From which state?
grew up in Vermont. It’s a really small
state, the second least populated in the
U.S. It’s in the mountains, very rural, no
cities.
After high school, I moved to New Jersey
and went to Princeton University. I got my
Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy after four
years. After I graduated, I moved across
the country to California, and got a job for
a school district. I was working on the ad-
ministrative and policy side of the schools,
doing research about teachers and teacher
pay. Questions like: How should we pay
teachers? How do we support our teachers
to improve their teaching? How should we
evaluate teachers?
I was there for two years and then I worked
for a small non-profit law firm this summer.
We represented people in prison who are
serving life sentences. I travelled to visit our
clients in prisons all over California. Our
organization helped them prepare for their
parole hearing, which is one of the main
opportunities to get out of prison if you are
serving a life sentence.
So… I don’t know where I’m from. Origi-
nally from Vermont, but just moved from
California.
I
Why did you choose to study public
policy and political science?
My parents are actually both professors
and they teach political science, so this
might be part of why I am interested in
these subjects. But they didn’t force me to
do it, of course. I have alway s cared about
human rights and about why some people
in society do not have as many advantages
as others. I was driven to study public
policy to learn about how we can structure
our system of laws to take care of people
more equitably.
Why did you decide to come here, to the
Czech Republic?
Many reasons.
I got a Fulbright grant that brings Ameri-
cans to Czech high schools to teach. I was
interested in this because I was working in
education policy (as I said), and doing Ö
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