Service Academies and McCallum High School

Well, I must be older than I thought! today I substituted at McCallum High School in Austin. I was teaching the AP pre-calculus class which is primarily college bound juniors. So I began asking them where they were planning on going to school. After hearing schools like UT, MIT, Brown, etc. I asked whether they had considered any of the service academies.

Collapse!

I was truly unprepared for the violent reactions and negativism towards any thought of attending a military academy. At first, I was stunned, but figured that they were just being teenagers. They were still young and trying to figure out what they really thought by adopting and experimenting with the extremes of various positions.

I remember when I was a junior in high school, it was not considered abnormal for teachers to offer advice about their alma maters. If one in particular had not sent my name in nomination to the Air Force Academy, I would never have even known about any of the service academies, and never would have attended Annapolis.

Boy was I taken back when, as I was checking out for the day, the head of the substitutes for McCallum asked whether one of the vice principals had found me because some of the students had complained that I was "recruiting" for the military during class time.

While I stood there dumbfounded, this administrator explained that, "You know, with this whole unjust war, it just doesn't take much to get students and parents upset." As I took as closer look around her office, I noticed that this administrator had a Michael Moore poster hanging in her office. If I had looked a little closer, I'm sure I would have found other evidence of her bias.

I am still mildly shell-shocked that things have changed so much. I feel very wounded that teenagers are being allowed to demonize our country's military with administrator support. It was interesting that some of the students barely stopped short of calling the troops murderers and the like, while others said they supported the troops but felt that "the war was wrong." I looked several students in the eye and told them, "As an American you are allowed to dissent. However, our country elected our leaders and then elected them again. As such, it is important for us as Americans to give our loyalty to our leaders."

Predictably, some of the students replied with the, "Well I didn't elect him." line. I responded that, "As Americans, you enjoy the fruits of this country and the blood of her soldiers keeps you free. It is really important that any person of conscience have truly and deeply considered this state of affairs. Otherwise, they haven't truly considered what even allows them to enjoy their lives in this nation."

These comments, which truly belong in a high school setting, but are to often absent, are probably what led to the complaints by the students.

Oh well, how things change. I don't think that I'm going to like it when this generation comes of age.

Read more!

Collapse!