<p>As the sixth of seven children, Representative Michael Day learned early when to speak up and be heard and when to remain quiet and listen."Dinners at our home were always lively events," he recalls. "Everyone competed for time to relay a story to the rest of the family or to get in a good line during someone else's story, so you tried to pick your spots."The son of a high school English teacher who became a lawyer and a nurse, Day was also raised with an understanding of the importance and literal vitality of these roles in society. He was also made to pay attention not just to what he said and when, but also how."The quickest way to get derailed and lose the floor was to foul up on grammar," Day smiles, admitting that he still has "nightmares about the predicate nominative and dangling participles."This strong support helped Day become a success even after he moved out of the family home. It also helped him understand the value of hard work. This was what allowed and encouraged Day to attend and graduate from Georgetown University Law School while working fulltime in Washington, DC. In fact, he not only worked one job, but many, serving as the Director of Public Policy for the New England Council, as a Senior Account Executive for the government relations firm GPC/O'Neill, and as a law clerk for the United Mine Workers, International Union.After moving back to Massachusetts in 2003, Day served for nearly a decade as a trial attorney with the firm of Mintz Levin and as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County In 2012, Day (who was named to the 2014 and 2015 Massachusetts Super Lawyers list in the field of Business Litigation after being recognized as a Rising Star from 2010-2013) opened his own firm, Torres, Scammon & Day, LLP. When asked how his education and vocation relate, Day says that he cannot think of any particular course or lesson that led him into politics. However, he credits his strong academic background and passionate educators with encouraging him to get involved."It was the way of thinking my teachers taught me that opened the field of politics to me," observes the co-chair of the Boston Bar Association's Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Committee. "I was lucky enough to have teachers and professors who encouraged me to dig deeper than the most obvious answers in the classroom; they taught me to examine why a particular answer was correct. I was also pushed to think about whether the ‘correct’ answer to a question…was the right, or just, one."Being allowed and encouraged to think about his answers in a larger context, instead of for the sake of just achieving a score on a test, gave Day the chance to not only learn but to understand and know how to use information fore his own betterment and that of those around him."I would often find myself questioning why things are the way they are, how they came to be, and how they could be changed for the better," he recalls. "These inquiries are, to me, the essence of politics."While he was both supported and educated by teachers at home and at school, Day realizes the many children today are not so fortunate. That is why he has remained a strong advocate of public education throughout his time in the House."I have been fortunate to have many exceptional teachers in my life," he recalls. "I benefited greatly by learning from teachers who weren't bound by the four corners of a text book, and who, instead, made their courses come alive by individualizing their classrooms to meet the needs of their students."This personal history has engendered a personal perspective that teachers need to be given the opportunity and support to teach."From adapting to the ever-changing technological advances to dealing with chronic funding challenges," Day suggests, "our educators and our students face a host of issues every day they go to school. I hope to play an important role in reforming our education funding formula to ensure that we are not only providing adequate funding for our educational needs but also that the funding going to our communities is equitable."In addition to expanding funding programs for schools, Day would also like to see curricula expanded, at least to the levels he enjoyed as a student."I would absolutely like to see increased course offerings and an increased focus on civics, government and history in our classrooms," he says. "I certainly recognize the importance and a need for STEM classes, but those classes should not come at the expense of courses offering critical thinking about the state of our society. When we engage our students in civics classes we prepare them to be active citizens. This leads directly to more responsive and better government, which, in turn, allows us to move forward together as a society in many different areas."So while Massachusetts is often cited as the best education system in the nation, Day sincerely thinks that it can be made even better."As a product of that system, and as a father of three boys who are making their own way through that system, I am committed to making that happen," he says. "Giving teachers the freedom to innovate and do what they do best - teach our youth - is one of the factors that motivated me to run for this seat in the first place."</p>
