During my years of teaching, I tried to impress on my students, young though they were (Grade six), that “nothing happened in a vacuum”. Whether it was science, history, geography or math, I always wanted my students to understand cause and effect...and the continuum on which things occurred. When I started teaching, the 6th grade was in elementary. Back then, the teacher taught all subjects. In 1967 when I started, teachers had fought long and hard to unionize and demanded, via collective bargaining, to have a say in working conditions. We, not the state (and certainly not Texas), had a say so in text book choice. We, the teachers, worked on curriculum. We, the teachers, were trusted to evaluate our students honestly and fairly, as opposed to some giant corporate test making company (who also made the books to “assure you” you would teach the exact right thing in the exact right way (scripted lessons) so the “graders” (hired low paid laborers who did not know the children) would know what was expected. Back then, when asked “What do you teach?” my answer was always, “Why I teach children, 12 year olds to be exact.” That answer startled my business working acquaintances who seemed to think the subject was more important than the student.
When we discussed the “Holocaust” after reading about Anne Frank, I made sure they knew that the crimes against other humans were so horrid but that the scapegoating of people was more about power and greed than religion was then used as the tool to instill fear, to divide. When we read books about the Civil War and slavery, I exposed students to the concept of the long history of slavery as an economic tool of the powerful; how history was about battles for resources. Yes, students as young as 12 can and do understand the need for resources and how geography had a big hand in history. Back then there were “reading series” that had wonderful stories that made children really think. I used one series so much that when it was discontinued, I basically broke the law, copied the stories (as my own expense to use them with students when I moved to another state/school, district). Even though we did not explicitly teach civics back then, good books, stories, anthologies on television like Wonderworks, reinforced the notion of the “common good.” For me, the common good is really the basis, the cornerstone of a democratic republic. Without it, all we have is….well it is what we have now. Open, free, equal PUBLIC education is the tool to keep a democratic republic alive. But now, the corporatist oligarchy soon to be governed by the world’s most famous kleptocrat, will have the power to kill all the common good, including public education.
I have many more stories on this continuum but I need to stop and get to my point.So where am I going with this narrative?? I am trying to reflect.
When did it happen? As I recall we were all moving forward, with glitches (like Nixon winning), but with consequences (as in Watergate). As I spent hours watching the hearings, I believed that liberal voices had won, that we would continue forward. I guess I was in the bubble of my classroom, where open minded, filled with love and eager to learn 12 year olds convinced me to be optimistic. Then Reagan got elected. I cried. I really struggled with that. But now, I realize, my despair then was not even close to what I feel now. It probably should have been. Reagan set in motion, along with some of things Nixon did, the emergence of Trump. Maybe it would have happened anyway. But the charisma and popularity of Reagan certainly made it easier. To this day, I know there are progressives (albeit not overly progressive) who admit they voted Reagan and still defend it and do not see that his administration was laying the groundwork. I know teachers, people who are supposed to be educated and informed, who back then had no idea who Pinochet or Montt were, how Reagan and the School of the Americas were supporting the murderous actions of the dictators who were erasing countless labor leaders in Central and South America. To this day, most people get blank stares when these things are even mentioned. I was no longer in a bubble as I was living in one of the most conservative cities in the country. I protested Reagan’s “Star Wars” program and the principal I had was upset. I was a union rep so I think he backed off for that reason. The protest was on a weekend and I had no hand in putting it in the news. Still, I had my students, most of whom were eager learners. I did musicals with them about the environment back in the 80s. I read to them, “The Missing Persons League” a book about a dystopian world that came to be because of humans disinterest in protecting the water, the forests. I did a unit on “Women’s History” every year. And twice I did the play “Dear Abby” (based on the letter from Abigail Adams urging John to “remember the ladies” when writing the constitution) which depicted how women who had opinions, who thought about civic things were often mocked or disregarded. My optimism came from my experience with students, so perhaps that was still my bubble. I am now retired. I no longer have my bubble of enthusiasm created by the innocent open minds of students. I have my grand baby of 15 months whom I hold and love and whisper apologies in her ear for the world I may be leaving her. I am 71 and will probably suffer less than most from this election. But I remain fearful and sad and angry. I plan on marching on January 21st. I wear the safety pins. But I need more. I need to know what young people are going to do.
History is on a continuum. Our supposed “exceptional” country had for over a hundred years supported the inhumane practice of slavery to insure the wealth of white males. Our supposed “exceptional” country only gave women the vote in 1920, long after many other countries. Our supposed “exceptional” country stood by while millions were slaughtered by a sadistic dictator. Our supposed “exceptional” country allowed its own people to wallow in poverty, live in camps and slums while a few white males made a lot of money. Our supposed “exceptional” country invaded a country on a pretense of lies, for the purpose of enriching white males in the fossil fuel economy. Our supposed “exceptional” country now has elected to office a horrid, selfish, greedy bigot and sexual predator to the most powerful office in the world and our “exceptional” country seems helpless in stopping him. Even personal history is on a continuum. When they moved sixth grade to middle school, I then had to deal with large numbers of adolescents. Instead of being able to create a community in my classroom, I was now in the business of teaching math and science instead of teaching students. I saw my students once a day for 45 minutes. I no longer could be the guide on the side, and instead was relegated by time to be the “sage on the stage” for much of the time. I hated it. After four years, I so missed being in a community, I moved back to elementary. But in the time there, I saw many a Donald Trump. For many males (not all but many) and a few females go through this adolescent bullying stage. Thankfully the majority outgrow it or are met with resistance from teachers and parents and get their raging hormones under control. The few that do not outgrow their adolescence remain bullies for life. Donald Trump is the adolescent rich white boy whose physical size and monied family allowed him to wallow in adolescence forever. He is now in the most powerful position in society worldwide.
So we got here, in my opinion, by ignoring history for most of our existence. With the exception of a few leaders, here and there, Lincoln, the Roosevelts…...our “exceptional country” continues to be the place to advance the superiority of the white male to do what they want to whomever they want. In that quest, there are many white females supporting them, along with a few people of color. Even now, here, and elsewhere from some of our most progressive leaders, we are hearing that our problem is that we are not reaching out to those rural/working class voters (white males and their white female companions) enough; that we are not recognizing their pain and their needs enough. But to me, the continuum of history tells me that it has been the white males all along who have been given the most consideration. It seems to me if we continue to reach out only to those who seem to see the rest of us as inferior, we are simply not paying attention to history.
I want to hear how we should go forward from those who are not pushing the “reach out to the rural whites” who love Trump or just hated Obama, the Clintons, the “others”. Some must have other ideas besides “reaching out to the haters”.