Jill Biden will soon become the first US First Lady to leave the White House and log hours at a full time job. After months of teaching writing and English to community college students in boxes on a computer screen, the first lady resumes teaching in person on Tuesday from a classroom at Northern Virginia Community College, where she has worked since 2009.
As Joe Biden ran for President and was eventually elected, his wife had made waves as the 'first professor FLOTUS', continuing her career as an English professor and pursuing efforts to promote education and research in the country. As the President put it in her Democratic National Convention introduction video, "Teaching is not what Jill does, it’s who she is."
But with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing a shift into virtual classrooms, it is only now that Professor Biden will be able to go back to her whiteboard. "There are some things you just can't replace, and I can't wait to get back in the classroom," she recently told Good Housekeeping magazine. Biden will teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with travel on days when she is not in the classroom.
As many including experts contend, a working first lady is a "big deal" and this is perhaps the only example for a First Lady working outside the home (when the home is the White House). Some first ladies acted as special ambassadors for their husbands, others were pillars of familial support, raising children and performed the role of hostess.
More recent first ladies, like Laura Bush, who was an elementary school teacher and librarian, had stopped working outside the home after having children and were not employed when their husbands were elected. Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama were working mothers who decided against continuing their careers in the White House. But at 70, Jill Biden appears to be forging a new path for herself and her successors.
Jill Biden tries to keep her political identity out of the classroom and has said that many of her former students in Virginia had no idea she was married to the vice president. She also did not talk about it. Secret Service agents accompanied her for security, but she had them dress casually and tote backpacks in an attempt to blend into the campus environment. But being first lady, for which there is no job description or pay, comes with a much higher level of visibility, security and scrutiny.
"So glad we have a FLOTUS who wants to contribute and give back," cheered one Twitter user.
"Speaking of getting a job, Jill Biden is setting a fine example by taking on a full-time position as a college professor. How many other first ladies can say that?" asked another.
Not everyone was quite as appreciative however. "The Country needs her more than her college students. I think she’s letting us down. Her decision is disappointing," countered another user. A later update however acknowledged that the user had not realised it was "only two classes a week".
"Think how much money cost all the logistics and secret service to secure the area so she can virtue signal," read another outraged post.
(With inputs from agencies)
