Bad Credit

Shiny Head of Wisdom: Challenge authority, do it for the kids

Date 4/17/2003 12:00 AM | Topic: Opinion

My roommate, the future educator, brought home a really nice souvenir from his student-teaching classroom today. As he tells it, one of the student's parents sent in free bumper stickers for the whole class, which their teacher distributed. They read, "I SUPPORT OUR ARMED FORCES. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!" and picture a waving American flag and a yellow support ribbon. There are, obviously, an infinite number of responses that a person could have to such an occurrence. I think that there is a clear, rational reaction for anyone who actually values the virtues and freedoms of the United States. The act seems destructive and undermining to every important thing that the American Constitution states.

First, the fifth-graders in the classroom have more questions than they even know about, and their minds are ripe and ready to be shaped and influenced by anything persuasive enough. The idea that they should be expected to "proudly be an American and support their armed forces" without understanding is problematic. There is a decisive difference between informing and educating children in a public school system and telling them what their opinions and values are.

It is preposterous to think that each one of these children's parents support the armed forces and are proud to be Americans without first consulting them. It is equally preposterous to think that those parents whose views differ with the bumper sticker would be happy that their children received, as part of their education, that bumper sticker.

The idea that Americans should blindly accept and support every action of their governing body is the practical opposite of the very notions of free speech, checks and balances and democracy. The property taxes that residents of that school system pay surely would be better spent insuring that the students were taught to understand a variety of viewpoints and their responsibility as citizens to question and understand their government's actions.

I think an important aspect of this may come from the (grossly generalized) complacency of the American mainstream to trust what any authority figure tells them. Compare this to the story of the Buddha, a model for many people's lifestyles in the world. Buddha's story tells practitioners to question everything they hear for themselves. This may deserve more discussion, but so do many other topics. I haven't even mentioned the prospect of windmills powering most or all of our campus, which may not be built in the near future because of aesthetic concerns. Nor did I mention the continuing use of wasteful and damaging carryout trays in our cafeteria. I didn't even touch the fact that most of the computer labs remain locked with all the machines on every night and most of them are broken. My only point is that, especially with nice weather, I am inclined more than most to spend my day climbing trees, or roller-blading, or avoiding schoolwork in general. But we must not all ignore things that are important. Relaxing is immensely important, yes, and so is energy over-consumption. I implore us all, myself included, to figure out what we want to solve and solve it without concern of authority and what they will think.

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Aaron Bodling
Chips Columnist

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