I love being a teacher and I really love teaching Social Studies. I get to teach teenagers about the unbelievable stories that, when taken together in context and thought about in a deep and meaningful way, create the American story ... the American personality. What great stories they are! I get so excited to pull out old DVD's that I own that are historical in nature. DVD's like John Adams, Ken Burns' Civil War, Band of Brothers, and many others. As I have learned to become a solid history teacher - and a good teacher and mentor in general - I am seeing patterns in my own life in this nation. Viewing history as it unfolds in front of us all.
I often fall into the easy response to the days events of posting a meme or shooting off the top of my head on Facebook. Like I said, it's easy and quick AND it feels really good at the time. It's instant gratification. We all know that Facebook and other social media work like that. They provide a snapshot of how people feel in the moment. Rarely does social media transcend a momentary thought and become something truly meaningful and substantive. Sometimes it happens but often it stirs up emotion and leaves those emotions scattered about the cyber world we live in.
I hope this blog will be more than my off the cuff remarks. It may serve as something that just makes me feel satisfied and does nothing to inform, engage, or involve myself with others. I'm hoping that it comes close to doing some of those things.
This last year, 2015-2016, I was told I would be teaching a new course. Other schools in the district were teaching this class but not Roosevelt. It is America in the Sixties. Well guess what? It is as good as it sounds. When teaching this semester long class, I get to spend four weeks on Vietnam. I get to spend four weeks on Civil Rights, the Cold War, and the Hippie Counter Culture. Man, what fun! Normally, when you teach history in high school you are basically flying through the decades as fast as you can. It's a tough juggling act to "cover" everything that needs to be covered and yet still make your way through the four centuries of American history. It was so nice to really get into some detail about the incredible events and people and movements that made up one of the most tumultuous and influential decades from those four centuries.
While teaching this class I saw a pattern. I learned something very important that is becoming evident to most people who are paying attention to national events. The major conflicts at the root of the protest movements of the 1960's are still with us. Change happened in that decade ... no doubt about it. Our country progressed by increasing the rights of minorities and women during that decade. But, I think, those hard fought victories that were strongly opposed by many are not yet won. Black people and white people are not equal in this country. Women do not enjoy the same civil status as men. Gay Americans came out of the closet in the sixties and, since that time, have won some victories around the nation. But guess what? Millions of Americans don't like that. Millions of Americans wish that "gay" would just go away. Maybe go back to wherever it was pre-1960.
To wrap up this first post, I think there are millions of Americans who as we speak (or write or read this or whatever) are really anxious and uncomfortable. They don't recognize America. I think they're scared and feel pissed off and misunderstood. I don't know if I understand all they are feeling but I am pretty sure I understand a little bit. But these Americans aren't really aware of another group - millions of Americans - who are only anxious because they are fed up with the status quo and the old way of doing things. They are young, they are multi-colored and multi-gendered. They speak many languages and they like many new and strange things like soccer (football), Snapchat, K-pop, spoken word poetry, hip hop, pansexuality, and ranking/rating videos for money.
Whether or not they know it, these two groups are clashing and I'm pretty sure the growing group (the second group) is going to win. But the first group (the one who was used to holding power) is not going down without a fight.
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