When I was in 6th grade attending a parochial school in my midwestern hometown, I became interested in politics.
It was our school's curriculum to study civics at the grade level where we learned the basics of government and citizenship.
The class teacher was Mr. Bickel, who was also the head of sports for the school. I remember ran his class like a team.
He was the coach and you were the players, and you better know what you're doing both on and off the field.
I also recall me and a couple of the boys were invited to visit Mr. Bickel after school one day after goofing off in his class. Everybody knew what that meant.
Yup, a paddle swat on your butt.
Like I said, you better know what you're doing in Mr. Bickel's class.
The year was 1972. It was a tumultuous time in America following the challenging times of the late 1960s. Vietnam was still on but winding down, President Richard Nixon made a historic trip to China, tensions in Vietnam then escalated with the U.S. mining of Haiphong Harbor, Governor Wallace of Alabama was shot while campaigning for president, the Watergate break-in occurred along with other concerning events. Oh, on the upside, my second favorite movie of all time, The Godfather, debuts so it isn't all bad.
Mr. Bickel captured my imagination and I wanted to learn and do more in his class. I was particularly impressed with the elections and campaigning. Again I'm in 6th grade which puts me at just about 10 years-old which is impressive since I wasn't even potty trained until I was 14.
While I was in town, I came across a flyer inviting the public to help with a presidential candidate campaign in our small town. I was intrigued so I made my way to the local campaign office. I introduced myself and asked if I could help. They were delighted to bring me on board, and I was tasked with stuffing envelopes and distributing similar flyers on car windows. Wow, I was part of a presidential campaign which is exactly what we were discussing in my 6th-grade civics class. I was excited to tell Mr. Bickel and he was very supportive of my news. This was truly a win-win.
I was immersed in my role. I put campaign posters on our homes window, had stickers to hand out to friends and was invited to be at the headquarters on election night.
As exciting as this all sounded election night was my first taste of substantial disappointment.
You see the presidential candidate I supported was Sen. George McGovern who at the time lost by the largest margin of victory by incumbent President Richard Nixon.
It was a landslide.
I am sharing this to add some perspective to current events taking place at home.
In all honesty, I didn't know a damn thing about presidential politics. I was apprised of the civic duties of American citizens to participate in our electoral process. I learned about our constitution, our Bill of Rights, the offices of political leadership, and the concept of patriotism. We said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning including "one nation, under God," we sang The Star-Spangled Banner, and we would pray to the Lord every day with Matins (a morning church service) once, sometimes twice, a week. Love of country and our Lord was as important to my childhood as breathing. And it still remains.
There was never a moment in Mr. Bickel's class was where he would tell us what to think about politics. When we discussed government, it was simply and solely about the history and formation of our country. When talking about political history, there wasn't a word about this one was good or this one was bad.
And that's the way it should be.
Today is a whole other story.
There are a slew of reports of local high school students who have been motivated to take to the literal streets in protest of ICE actions in Minnesota and other states.
I am not in opposition to student protests, but why is this? What is the basis of their inspiration?
Teachers.
I shared that in Mr. Bickel's class there was no partisanship. This teaching model followed us into high school. Yes, there were discussions about current events but we were not propagandized with a teacher's opinion or agenda. We were tested on our knowledge of civics fundamentals and we were required to pass this class in order to earn our diploma.
If there was political referencing, it was in the role of effectuating foreign relations in the best interest of our home and country. And, yes, we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning, we sang The Star-Spangled Banner every afternoon when the colors were lowered and we were given time to pray to whomever we wanted.
I graduated High School in 1979.
There were substantive events occurring — America turning its back on Taiwan in favor of China, the post Iranian revolution develops culminating with the seizing of American hostages in Tehran, C-SPAN launches, the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, takes place and a shift in international politics comes about with the rise of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Many opportunities to ingratiate opinion and agenda from teachers but it simply didn't happen.
Fast forward and classrooms starting in the earliest grades have become the breeding ground for student indoctrination via agendized educational goals.
It is clear the vast majority of teachers are aligned on the left and the Democrat party. Affirmation is found in the composition of the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association and the Education Committees and chairs in the State Legislature.
All of this and more equals a disdain and rejection of the right and especially President Donald J. Trump who is the center of the ICE OUT narrative espoused by 13 to 17 year old high schoolers protesting here and on the Mainland.
That said I believe the indoctrination of students with biased information in the classroom is far beyond what parents expect and is a far cry from "Reading, Writing and Arithmetic." Teachers who subscribe to this assume it is their responsibility to raise your children beyond providing a basic yet quality education. They may feel this is their mission but it's misguided and circumvents or collides with a parents ultimate authority as the mother and/or father of their child/children.
Do not view this as a lambasting of teachers. The intent is to call attention to educators to respect their own lane when it comes to going beyond education and creating students to ultimately meet their own personal priorities and beliefs. Your personal right may be the families'ogagnolton,emitasawerehT wrong.
I wonder how Mr. Bickel would fare in these days in which we live.
