“Rich white guys have always made the rules.”
I’m teaching High School Civics again for the first time in years, and we are starting with creating eight-page books depicting the actual language of the Preamble to the Constitution, with the student’s opinion below it. The quote above is from page three, “Establish justice and insure domestic tranquility.”
And since I’m a visual teacher, I have a picture of the original founding fathers up on the wall, and guess what they look like? This is the hook, followed by the understanding that, 250 years ago, Thomas Jefferson owned slaves but also wrote one of the most powerful documents in History. The message is simple; life is complicated and ideas like justice and domestic tranquility evolve.
Students have little idea why civics matters because government, quite simply, has become a clown show. Money has corrupted what was once a great way to keep society just and tranquil, to the point that our current leaders are often focused on Me The Person and not We The People.
Want to know how bad it has become? How about the student who lectured me about how bad wind power is for the environment, how ICE behavior is good (a Hispanic male student said this), and how AI and Smartphones are making us smarter, safer and more productive. This is where the discussion starts, and yes, I try to be non-biased, but when the behavior is so egregious and counter to what the founding fathers intended, it should be exposed.
Government should help, full stop. And a Democratic government should function as TJ and his FF posse intended it to function, “That all men are created equal, with certain unalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Most of my students are not happy, I’m not really happy, their parents aren’t happy, you probably aren’t really happy. And the real problem is that we are accepting the unhappiness with a shrug and a hope that a change in 2028 will make it better. Why do we not have universal healthcare? Why is one of my ex-students living under the Verano bridge? Why is inflation out of control? Why aren’t we paying attention to our warming planet? Simple answer: Poor leadership not adhering to the Constitution.
And, because I like when life connects to school, I am currently working with local Supervisor Rebecca Hermosillo to establish a noise ordinance in Boyes Hot Springs (actually Sonoma County-wide). I tell my students how meetings with local police go (poorly); how frustrating it is to call the police when the band in my neighbor’s yard is causing my kitchen windows to shake; how their right to party (which I’m all for, BTW) is just as important as my right to peace and quiet, but can’t we find a solution?
Like I said, life is complicated.
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