Editor, Commonwealth:
In response to Tim Kalich’s op-ed column on Jan. 30 (“An uncomfortable topic”), I would like to offer a little bit different perspective, since I’m a child of the ’50s and ’60s.
In the ’60s and ’70s, there were two nearly parallel events that took place in the public schools: desegregation, which you addressed, and the removal of prayer and Bible reading in 1962 and 1963, respectively. In the 1959-1960 school year, I enjoyed Mrs. Lucille Johnson’s daily Bible readings. (As I recall, she stuck to the Psalms, probably for simplicity for fourth graders, but also no doubt in deference to her Jewish pupils.) These were always a highlight of my day.
Fast forward to high school. As might be expected, the aforementioned court rulings with regard to prayer and Bible reading left a void that would fairly rapidly be filled. Although I still had beloved teachers at the high school level, what I recognize now as the humanist religion and the attendant “values clarification” theory, formalized by Sidney Simon in his publication of the same name in 1972, had subtly crept into the curriculum. When I was taught atheistic evolution, I knew it was in direct contradiction to what I had been taught at church. But I thought, “Surely my schoolteachers would not lie to me!” So I made an “adjustment” in my thinking to accommodate both statements of origin and, quite naturally, came to adopt what is generally known as theistic evolution. The only problem with that is that we are fallen creatures; and therefore, we are more inclined to devolution in our thought process than evolution.
Over time, I came to at least tacitly accept atheistic evolution and to tell myself that either God really didn’t exist at all or if He did, His existence was irrelevant. It was not until age 25 that I had a transformative spiritual experience that reversed all that. Another huge factor that played into my decision was that I wanted my three children to have the best. I knew deep in my heart that the “best” was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
So one’s decision about his children’s schooling in the late ’60s and ’70s, and in the years following, was and remains a highly personal one (and I believe you alluded to that somewhat in your next-to-last paragraph).
Children are not wards of the state. They belong to their families. In my family, school choice was a moot question because my mother was a widow trying to rear five children, of whom I was the oldest.
As for the education of my own children, because of various circumstances, it was a combination of (supplemented) public, private and home schooling. As an aside, let me say that I was then, and am now, strongly opposed to forced busing where little children are taken miles away from their homes and neighborhood schools, with their thumbs still in their mouths and their Raggedy Anns still at their sides.
Having said all that, I believe the ideological pendulum of the recent administration swung way too far to the right and that played into the killing of George Floyd (8 minutes, 43 seconds) and others.
I am reminded of something Francis Schaeffer said (and I paraphrase): “Whether it’s the far left or the far right end of the political spectrum (communism or fascism), they both end the same way — in death.”
What greater proof is there of that than the shocking reality of the remains of Officer Brian Sicknick lying in honor at our nation’s Capitol — a young man in his prime killed by people whose near motto started out being “Back the blue”? How incredibly sad!
Georgia Wilkinson
Elizabethton, Tennessee
