This is the most challenging post I have had to write so far, because it is about something I have wanted to do ever since I heard about the American Heritage School from Mark Terry, about how they do historical re-enactments, including a three-hour musical about the history of the United States. I thought it would be fun, I guess, I now confess, in a campy sort of way, to visit this school. As you know, I love the US of A, the many visions and stories from our wonderful, complicated nation full of so many diverse types of people, and I do love to wear a tricorn, or even a Betsy Ross uniform when I can. I don't want to say anything "bad" about the American Heritage School. Everyone was really nice, the kids were fun and spunky and smart, and my 12th grade counterpart was charismatic, funny, and very kind to me. I invited him to please come and visit us at Northwest, the school that is pretty much the polar opposite of his, a progressive school in a progressive city. I suppose you could call us "enemies."
I looked up the word enemy in the 1828 Webster's Dictionary, the official dictionary used by the teachers at the American Heritage School. ("Search, browse, and study this dictionary to learn more about the early American, Christian language.") It means: "1. a foe; an adversary. A private enemy is one who hates another, or attempts to do him injury to gratify his own malice or ill will. 2. One who hates or dislikes, as an enemy to truth or falsehood. 3. In theology...the enemy is the Devil, the archfiend." check out the 1828 Webster Dictionary Is this too extreme? I certainly didn't feel hatred when I visited the American Heritage School. I was astonished, I suppose, uncomfortable, bemused, fascinated. I admit, I did dislike their doctrines and felt enmity towards the teachings I experienced. I also was aware that in the eyes of many of the people at this school, we are most likely the representatives of the archfiend.
Here's the story of my day: I arrived at the school at 7:30, a bit self-conscious because I was dressed in slacks, and all the other females had skirts below the knee. I was met by the assistant principal, whom I had contacted to arrange the visit. She was super nice, and welcomed me graciously. We went to the faculty morning prayer meeting, where we sang the patriotic hymn, "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," which most people know. We sang three verses, the last of which praised "our Fathers' God" as the "author of Liberty." Of course we know the famous words of the Declaration of Independence, that talk about "the laws of nature and nature's God," but we also know that Thomas Jefferson, who wrote those words, was a deist who cut up the Bible and pasted the parts he thought were "diamonds in a dunghill" into a separate book, the Jefferson Bible, which is handed out to members of Congress to this day. Jefferson called most of the Bible a "dunghill." But never mind that. I'm trying not to put in my own two cents, just tell you what happened. I was captivated by all the pictures they had of George Washington praying at Valley Forge, next to portraits of Christopher Columbus and Joseph Smith.
After a hymn and a prayer, and another lovely welcome from the other teachers, I went to visit a 7th grade class. The teacher was extremely friendly and showed me the timeline they have on the wall in every history classroom, detailing the essential events of history: the printing press, Columbus, Joseph Smith, the Supreme Court stopping prayer in schools, etc. Muslims destroy the Holy Sepulcher? Check. Martin Luther reforms the Catholic Church? Check. The teacher introduced me and the entire group of 7th graders stood up, faced me, and said in unison, "Good Morning, Ms. Meyer, Welcome to our School." We then sang another hymn and said the pledge of allegiance to the flag. The students stood up beside their desks (in rows) and, as prompted by the teacher, began to recite various phrases, lines and maxims they had memorized. I felt I had been transported back to the 1950s. The teacher talked probably 95 percent of the time as the students sat and listened to her. The lesson was about the priest, Melchizedek, about whom very little is written in the King James Bible, but in the Joseph Smith "Translation," it tells of how the priest took bread, broke it and blessed it, and took the wine and blessed it, to foreshadow the Christian sacrament.
This is because Joseph Smith was allegedly visited by the three apostles (see my post about what I love about Mormons a couple of days ago), who conferred the priestly authority of Melchizedek onto him. We spent a LONG time being read to out of the book of Genesis, hearing lists of various kings of ancient city-states, the most prominent of which were, of course, the ever-popular Sodom and Gommorah. In every single class I saw, the teacher took many opportunities to remind the students of the importance of personal righteousness and purity, and to avoid the "filthy" practices of the inhabitants of these cities. "Never do anything that could lead to sexual transgression," warns the pamphlet, "For the Strength of Youth," which is the Mormon guide for high school kids. "Do not do anything that arouses sexual feelings. Do not arouse those emotions in your own body." (I assume this is a tactful way to say not to masturbate.) Why, because "In God's sight, sexual sins are extremely serious....The prophet Alma taught that sexual sins are more serious than any other sins except murder or denying the Holy Ghost." Especially serious is "Homosexual and lesbian behavior." With these beliefs, it makes sense that the teachers would take every opportunity to remind the kids to stay on guard against this kind of behavior or thought. "The Natural Man is the Enemy to God," was a statement the students learned, memorized and repeated often.
Next I visited my charming counterpart, the 12th grade "core" curriculum teacher. Like the teachers at Northwest, he did not use a textbook for civics, but had created his own series of power points as well as a course reader, with sources carefully cited for the students to do further research on their own. He was going through the US Constitution, just like we do, making sure they had things like the powers of Congress in Article One section 8 down pat: coining money, setting standards of weights and measures, etc. Like us, he put in his two cents, giving examples and interpretations. Like us, he told them about separation of powers (Montesquieu), Artistotle's parts of government, and of course about Locke and Hobbes. We could have swapped power points and lectured from them (although mine were fancier). The difference, of course, was the commentary. Here are just a few examples:
1) When discussing the "natural born citizen" clause in Article 2, he said that the reason the Founding Fathers wanted the president to be born in the US was so that he would be educated here. He told a story of Thomas Jefferson, who had been in Paris during the Constitutional Convention, being asked by a friend where he should send his son to school. According to the story, Jefferson told him to send him to William and Mary in Virginia, so that he would learn American, not European values. And besides, said Jefferson, all those American men who come to Europe end up taking mistresses there, and being unfaithful to their wives. (I guess it was okay to bring your mistress with you to Europe, especially if she was also your property.) The point of the story was driven home with a video of Michelle Obama making a speech in which she referred to Kenya as her husband's "Homeland." In other words, it really doesn't matter whether Obama was technically born in Hawaii or not; what matters is that he is not really "American" because he was not educated here, and does not hold the true values of the Founding Fathers: Christianity and Capitalism.
2) When teaching about the Electoral College, he went over the original section in Article Two, without any reference to the 12th amendment except to say, "It's a little different today." He explained that Hilary Clinton wants to abolish the Electoral College, because this would lead to uniformity and conformity to the dominant cultural values of moral relativism and sexual promiscuity . I wish I could have followed his argument better; it made my head spin. I think the gist was that if we abolish the Electoral College and let the president be chosen by popular vote, states like Wyoming will not be able to preserve their unique voice, the voice of the past that they want to conserve.
I wish I could tell you everything he said, but by that time my head was spinning. I was trying to pay attention as best I could but I was so astonished at how the same document could be taught so differently, and I wondered...am I as biased as he is? When I put in my two cents, do I sound as much like Rachel Maddow as he does like Glenn Beck? I did manage to write down the following amazing gem, word for word: "If we have to teach safe sex in the schools, are we worthy of this Constitution?"
"Whaaaaat?" you may ask. No, no. Let me explain. There are four conditions to a successful Republic: 1) private virtue. In other words, citizens must be virtuous, living according to good moral principles (see above about sexual purity, for example) for a republic not to fall apart 2) public virtue. Leaders have to be willing to serve disinterestedly, not for personal gain 3) widespread education. The kind they are getting at American Heritage School, NOT the kind we teach at Northwest. 4) Auxiliary safeguards. These could be things like the Bill of Rights (especially the 10th amendment to prevent the Congress from getting out of hand OR things like not being alone with a date so you don't get frisky and sexually immoral). Now do you see why, if we have to teach about condoms in high school, we don't really deserve to have a republic? Because we don't have real virtue.
When my mind wandered (or maybe shut down for a moment in order to prevent overload), I looked around the room at the 28 principles from The 5000 Year Leap that my counterpart had posted around the room. Here they all are for your reading enjoyment but I will just tell you the last one, in case you didn't have time to look at them all: "The United States has a manifest destiny to eventually become a glorious example of God's law under a restored Constitution that will inspire the entire human race." ("restored" without the 13th-15th and 19th amendments?) I also looked through the extensive course reader he had compiled, and wrote down some of the sources he used so I could look them up later. (Remember: democracy leads to tyranny. Socialism always leads to Communism. Always cite your sources so that your adversary can look them up later and post them on her blog in an attempt to shock her readers and, I guess, discredit you as a serious teacher)
1) Communism's plan for destroying the west: odd Catholic website source for evil feminist plan to destroy our values. If you click on the Home page, you will see the Virgin Mary's End Time Prophecies as well.
2) Comparison of Marx's ten-point plan to how we have changed the Constitution: from 1963
and here is their main page (the main one they don't like, in case you don't want to read the whole thing, is the 14th Amendment)
3) Finally, the "Inspired Constitution" webpage written by LDS folks: here is what they say about the US Constitution
In my final observation, I read along with the students as they listened to my counterpart discuss the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. As in the previous classes I observed, the teacher did pretty much all the talking. It made me resolve to talk less when I return to Northwest. I know I have made strides in that area over the years, but I need to continue to work on this, as I love to "hold forth" as much as my American Heritage colleagues. At one point, he compared Mr. Covey, the evil slave-breaker whom Frederick fights, to people on welfare. I guess because he was having other people do work for him. Mr. Covey, Douglass wrote, "deceived himself into the solemn belief that he was a sincere worshipper of the most high God." Hm.
After class, I told my counterpart, in a loving way, that I was opposed to pretty much everything he stood for, and vice versa. I told him how proud I had been of my students when they worked on R-74 last year. How, just as he and his colleagues proudly displayed photos of their lovely families (he has seven children himself), my gay colleauges could display their family photos with the same pride. I invited him to come visit, and offered to swap power points with him. I told him we had just elected a gay mayor. He said that he would love to come visit, that he had been meaning to come to the Pacific Northwest for a long time. I think we each thought the other person was smart and funny and dynamic. As a conservative, he wants to "conserve" what he believes to be the values of the past. As a progressive, I see society as getting better, not worse (what with things like the abolition of slavery and the recognition of human rights for all people etc.)
I was pretty shaken up as I left. It's one thing to laugh and be campy about this kind of teaching; it's another experience entirely to sit there and listen and read and think about how these kids are going to think and feel and participate in government when they grow up. I guess I do sort of want to destroy a lot of what he believes in. I want a single-payer health care system. I don't want gay Mormon kids to try to kill themselves. I know he doesn't want that, either, but his doctrines do lead to that. I want to argue with him, but I know there isn't any point. I will, however, continue to do everything in my power to teach kids that unchecked capitalism is wrong. That the Founding Fathers, while some were Christian, did believe in the separation of church and state. That people can be virtuous without scary religious doctrines. That the First Amendment does not give people the ability to impose their religion on everyone else. That Nature's God made the Natural Man, not to be His enemy, but that our sex powers are God-given, and therefore good. And God did make Adam and Steve. That the Constitution of the United States is one of the greatest miracles of government, and should be learned by heart, so you know your rights and they can't be taken away.
I am comforted by the words of Pastor Eric O'Del of Amazing Grace Spiritual Center. I asked him how he felt about conservative Christians who thought he would go to hell for being a flamboyant gay man. He looked at me with a twinkly-eyed, beatific smile and asked, "Do you get the idea that God loves diversity?" I look around and yes, I do get that idea, Pastor Eric. "They're just scared. I pray for them. I pray for their highest and best good."
I will do that, as I go for a hike in magnificent Arches National Park tomorrow. Thanks for reading. Keep the faith, everybody.
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