Civics Class      

By Harry T. Cook 

3/1/13

Harry T. Cook

You're an eighth-grade civics teacher, and your lesson plan for today -- of all days -- calls for a discussion of how the legislative branch is supposed to work with the executive branch to keep the country and its government running. Your students were to have read the first and second articles of the U.S. Constitution to see it all spelled out.

The other day a kid in your class asked why his father, a civilian employee of the United States Army, might have to be laid off because of "that thing with a funny name"? How, the kid wanted to know, can the government do that to somebody it sent to Afghanistan and before that to Iraq?

You probably wish you had majored in math and were trying to teach pre-algebra to your charges. Instead, now you'll have to explain how the government hasn't been functioning worth a damn and doesn't do its job, why the rich don't have to pay their fair share of taxes, why the government shuts down -- or nearly -- two or three times a year and why so many members of Congress seem to oppose anything and everything the President proposes.

You want to say that partisan politics have never been more vicious, at least during your lifetime. You will tell your students about the dream of our founding parents and of how our more perfect union was meant to do business. You'll have to acknowledge that things aren't working out very well in Washington, D.C., where the inmates seem to have taken control of the asylum. First there were the founders. Now we have founderers.

On top of everything else, late last week you found in your faculty lounge mailbox a piece of paper with the telltale color of pink. Due to possible reductions in federal funding to the states, the paper said, your school district somewhere soon down the road may have to reduce its budget. If and when the cutbacks come, you will be furloughed indefinitely. As a courtesy, they're letting you know ahead of time.

Because you're the only member of the faculty credentialed to teach eighth-grade civics, and because state law requires that it be taught, the class would have to be assigned to the gym teacher because he's high enough on the seniority list to avoid a furlough -- though rumor is that the state legislature is trying to demolish the teachers' union and, in the process, seniority.

So what are you going to say to your students? You're thinking that you may as well tell them the truth and risk outright dismissal, which you think would probably happen given the risk-averse position of public school officials today. You could always claim the right of free speech and give the students a real-life lesson on the First Amendment.

So you gird up your loins and decide to say to the class something like this:

"The government of the United States of America, the noble dream of our forefathers -- George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, to mention only a few -- has become a waking nightmare due to a blood feud between Republicans and Democrats. Too many Republicans believe that any tax is one too many, that any government is too much government and that Barack Obama is an illegitimate President and must therefore be stopped from doing anything the American people elected him to do -- twice.

"The Democrats say they want to protect schools like yours and teachers like me so that you can learn and I can teach, the job I was trained to do. They want to make sure your grandparents can get treated when they go the doctor or the hospital without their already sparse income being eaten up by medical bills. They want to protect the school lunch and Head Start programs.

"The Democrats want to protect people like us. The Republicans call people like us 'takers' and their heroes 'makers.' Makers should be able to take it all; takers should suck it up and be quiet, is what the Republicans think. If they ultimately win this fight, we'll all be the worse for it.

"I'll probably be fired for telling you the truth of the matter as I see it. The thing is that I care about you and what's going to happen to kids like you in a country like this."

* * * *

Oh, and you'll want to remind the class that one of the words in next week's spelling bee is "sequestration." Tell them that they should look it up, because it's a thing that threatens to make their parents' and grandparents' lives pretty difficult.

re essay of 2/22/13 American Untouchables           

Pauline Schroeder, St. Louis, MO: 

My husband and one of my sons are Eagle Scouts and would absolutely agree with you on the subject of exclusion. It's the sexuality part that is so irrational. At least, as you point out, they do take an oath to both God and country. However, the deity these men in my life worship is a God of love and inclusion. Thanks for your to-the-point commentary. I have circulated it widely here.

Cathy Petroelje, Zeeland, MI:

We have a son-in-law and a grandson that are both Eagle Scouts, and we are very proud of that. Hopefully they will keep the scout program as is, letting in homosexuals is totally against what our God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit teach us.  Sex should be only between a husband and wife. If you can't do that then abstain.  As far as birth control if you feel you have to disobey God then at least keep a rain coat in your pocket. I think you try to dig up things to make controversial just to create trouble among people. If you could use your knowledge and your upbringing, just think of all the good you could do. I know you and your family and were brought up in the same town as I was, and I have to disagree with you, it was a nice little village and far as I was concerned very strong believers lived there. I feel as I came from a very diverse community. We have a grandson-in-law that is from Zambia, Africa and very black in color, he is married to our very blonde grand-daughter and have three wonderful children, a very loving couple, and we love them all dearly, regardless of race. Homosexuality is biblically wrong and that is that. It is people like you that keep bringing these issues up just to stir up more trouble.

W.A. Wells, Danville, VA:

I submit that there is no scientific evidence of race. It is an anecdotal and political construct. We are different, but there is no objective way of identifying race, genetically or otherwise. 

Fred Fenton, Concord, CA:

Thank you for a powerful essay about exclusions in American society. You are right that "overt derision of the other's thinking and being are just plain un-American." That made me think of Republicans in Congress and the people who support them. Their hatred of the president and opposition to anything he proposes is also "just plain un-American" and harmful to the governance and welfare of the nation.

David Carlin, Newport, RI:

You say that the argument that homosexuality is "unnatural" is a "tired argument."  But arguments don't get tired. People get tired of hearing them. For example, philanderers get tired of hearing arguments on behalf of marital fidelity, girlfriend-beaters get tired of hearing arguments against violence, thieves get tired of hearing arguments in favor of honesty, Nazis used to get tired of arguments against anti-Semitism, etc., etc.

John Bennison, Walnut Creek, CA:

Who are the un-Americans? Those who would recoil at a reprise to Lady Liberty's beckoning, "Give me your gay scouts, their unemployed fathers and God-less mothers, and the growing, huddled masses of untouchables such as these yearning to breathe free."

Tracey Morgan, Southfield, MI:

" ... belief apart from knowledge, proclamation apart from fact and faith apart from reason leave the human being with little choice but to defend his singular or group conviction." Another Cook-ian gem.

Rev. Canon F. Hugh Magee, St. Andrew's, Scotland:

My hat is off to you. You write so well and what you say is so true.

Herb Kaufman, Beverly Hills, MI:

I am an Eagle Scout and former scoutmaster.  In the 1950's we were pretty naive and had no idea as to who may have been gay, Agnostic/Atheist, etc. I was also at that time not aware of the guiding principles of the BSA regarding race and sexual orientation; anyone who wanted to join our troop, could.  Troop 19, Youngstown, Ohio, provided great learning and leadership opportunities for me.  But if I thought it would do any good, I would now gladly return my Eagle badge with its bronze palm to this malevolent organization.  Knowing, however, the mindset of such intolerant prejudiced people, I'm sure they would just look at it, exude a hearty 'harrumph', and pitch it into the nearest waste container.  So I guess it will continue to hang on my wall in it's frame, a symbol of happier and more benevolent times.

Julie Eliason, Royal Oak, MI:

As usual, I loved your essay, especially because it was full of your thinking and logic.