Jill Biden is not one to set her career aside for her husband’s, even though her husband is now President-Elect of the United States. For the eight years he was Vice President under President Obama, she never stopped teaching at Northern Virginia Community College, and she did so under the radar. Her students knew her as Doctor B, and her Secret Service bodyguards disguised themselves as classmates. She teaches English, both literature and writing.
She did take time off, this past year, to help her husband run his campaign, but when January comes and he enters the White House, Doctor B intends to go back to her classroom. She won’t be able to do so discreetly now – during all of Joe Biden’s campaign, she was right beside him, a brilliant and well-spoken advocate for his platform.
Doctor B will be the first First Lady to keep her day job while living in the White House. At 69, no one would fault her for retiring to play politics, but that is not where her priorities lie.
As Second Lady, Jill Biden was known to leave notes about her students’ struggles on the mirror for her husband to see. Her experiences absolutely informed his platform on education, especially about making college at all levels more available to everyone. After four years of the DeVos Department of Education, it will be refreshing to have a White House united on the importance of breaking down the class barriers to higher education.
First Lady Jill Biden doesn’t view herself as a political spouse, but her being there at Joe Biden’s side means that education will never be far from our president’s mind. In a year when education has never been more disrupted or more ready for reform, Doctor B appears to be exactly the teacher this nation needs.
Photo: Joe and Jill Biden together on a stage. Credit: Stratos Brilakis / Shutterstock.com
