I shared with a teacher friend of mine about all the unrest centered on "CRT." The unrest goes beyond pure CRT but those are the initials that capsulize the issue. Ironic, because pure CRT is really not taught in many places. Let's call the initials a "buzzword." It is shorthand which of course people always appreciate. Simplified to the point where it really becomes misleading. Such is the nature of the country we inhabit.
Yes, I do drone on about the annoyances of the Americans who call themselves "conservative" today. There has to be reasonable pushback against these folks now. A trait generally associated with conservatism is that it has a wellspring of emotion rather than demonstrable fact. You cannot dispute that, can you? And it's not as if emotions are worthless. But we all need to pause and take a deep breath, here in the year 2022.
The pendulum has been known to change directions. That is in fact the norm. But, so is the norm that we cannot predict the future. My late father always said "analogies are dangerous." This is why I sometimes cite "Godwin's Rule" in my writing. That was then, this is now. Pundits talk about the inflation of the 1970s. The specter or reality of inflation is looming right now. But this is not the 1970s. Culturally we have moved quite a distance away from that, from the pre-digital times of the Big 3 TV networks with their "gatekeeper" news shows. To the present where the "media" is a ridiculous free-for-all.
I digress? Let's get back to my teacher friend. Is it OK if I say she's Sharon Martin? I went to high school with the oldest of the Martin children, Edith, the one who didn't hang around here much after her graduation. The Eul family of hardware distinction was ditto: the oldest child, Mike, in my graduating class like Edith, was not destined to stay in Morris. Destiny took "Edie" and Mike away. Whether it was to greener pastures, they will have to judge.
I asked Rob Eul what Mike thought of the Eul's Hardware era ending here in Motown. Rob indicated that Mike had other priorities, just as he obviously did after graduating from high school.
Edith was a class speaker for our commencement. It was during the "deconstructionist" or contrarian era for young people, in which the norms demanded they be unconventional. So Edie was surely up to that task. She invoked the old character of "Caspar Milquetoast." She advised us against following that example.
So I asked Sharon Martin about all the tumult in U.S. education now, with the self-styled "conservatives" of today rocking the boat with so much unpleasantness. We never could have predicted this when I was high school age. Back then we looked upon conservatives as being fundamentally dull, staid, stodgy. So we got frustrated with them when we had trouble persuading them about the folly of the Vietnam war. That is such an old and forgotten issue now.
Conservatives have re-invented themselves today in the image of this crazy person named Donald Trump. We cannot assume that this movement will ultimately wake up and smell the coffee. We'd love to assume there's always a happy ending, with good triumphing over bad. We got that with Watergate. And who were the heroes with Watergate? Oh my, newspaper writers! Can you believe it? So I got on board with that profession.
Today, newspaper writers just do whatever it takes to keep their jobs, as they no longer feel their oats at all. Not like in the '70s. I can be sort of a vestige of that because online, I can write any way I prefer, can share whatever world view I prefer. However, the media is so "fragmented" today, it can blow your mind. My reach as a writer is limited, I acknowledge that. However, I do feel I offer some meaningful enrichment from time to time.
Today I can report that Sharon Martin has encouraging words about our Morris school system. The "crazies" of the political right have not yet infiltrated with their screaming histrionics. Those are my words, not hers.
Shhh, don't tell anyone. We don't want the local "conservative" crowd getting any ideas about how they might start showing up at school board meetings to be horribly disruptive. We learn now that teachers are leaving the profession because of the pressure coming down. A teacher does not dare even suggest anything in class that could hurt the feelings of "white people." Or, to offend any kids' religious beliefs, even if said beliefs are random and stupid, like interpreting the Bible literally. How can a science teacher even function under these circumstances?
The conservatives of my childhood were characterized to a large extent by not wanting to rock the boat, just take it easy and ensure orderliness. Order was so important to them. But today? "Conservatives" are striving to set fire to things, figuratively speaking. They'll fire a superintendent who is obviously a basically good and competent person. This is happening, like in suburban Denver CO.
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| Sharon Martin |
Now that this blog post is up, I hope Sharon is pleasant as usual when I see her along the biking/walking trail this spring. Oh how we look forward to the turn in the weather! Sharon will be with her beloved dog, "Goldy."
Click on permalink below to read the post I wrote several years ago, based on Edith Martin's MHS graduation speech from 1973. The headline is "Graduation reflects tenor of the times." Thanks.
Addendum: Do not think you can "protect" or shield kids from certain ideas or ways of interpreting history. Heavens! As an adult I discovered two different Civil War magazines, devoured many articles in both and learned just about everything I know about that conflict. It does not matter how it was presented in "school."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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