 Last week, at the invitation of Kurt Richey, who is technically listed as an English teacher of Foothill High School in Pleasanton, I had the pleasure of speaking to one of his senior classes.
I used the word “technically” because what Richey accomplishes is far more valuable to student achievement than appreciating the prose of great writers or knowing when one should use a semi-colon instead of a comma.
The official title of the course is “Literature and the Dynamics of
Social Justice.”
Students are charged to make relevant connections beyond our current sound bite culture on a range of issues. Students are required to stretch beyond the simplistic left/right political polemics that seem to define so much of our public discourse.
The guest speakers Richey invited to class this semester were primarily activists of some nature. Though I do not consider myself an activist per se, I see myself as an “activist” on behalf of the Constitution.
It was at this point of the discussion that I discovered just how effective Richey has been with his class this year.
After giving my eulogy to the Constitution and how it represents the closest thing we have in America to a perfect document, though it was written by flawed hands, a student deftly asked: “What happens when the Constitution is wrong?”
I paused momentarily, thinking to myself: “How could a document, in my view, borders on perfection be wrong?” The Constitution has indeed fallen short in affirming the dignity of some of its citizens—antebellum slavery and women’s rights certainly come to mind. But how can that be when the preamble declares: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide the for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.” But therein lies part of the tension, not in the words but the application. America has struggled at times to have firm grasp on who comprises the “we” in the “We the people of the United States.” Who the framers of the Constitution had in mind when the preamble was penned were not exactly the same ones who over the centuries risked their lives to test its elasticity. Our incongruent history provides more than enough evidence to quickly conclude the Constitution is closer to oxymoronic than perfection. The framers punted on the issue of slavery, which the Three-Fifths Compromise of 1790 will attest, and they spent even less time debating whether “We the people” included women. On January 21, 1861, Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis on the Senate floor gave his farewell address before becoming President of the Confederacy. It is was speech flowered with Davis’ understanding of the Constitution, as was Alabama Governor, George Wallace’s inauguration address nearly a century later when he proclaimed “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” I have no doubt many who self-identify as Tea-Baggers today feel they too are standing on constitutional principles as they cite the 10th Amendment. But for the 10th Amendment to be relevant as they see it, they must also act as if the Civil War never occurred and the 14th Amendment was never ratified. It’s not if the Constitution is wrong, but has society engaged in the requisite self-reflection to discern if it has moved away from its core values? Part of the greatness of this country has been when it has dared to look at itself honestly in order to amend its ways constitutionally. The question posed to me about the Constitution gets at the crux of Richey’s class. The process of arriving at a position is as important, if not more so, than one’s actual conclusion.
But what happens when the students confront issues in the class that cannot be solved?
“If they can't solve problems,” Richey said. “I at least want them to understand there are no simple answers to complex problems. At times, if they are more confused at the end of a unit, I feel I have succeeded.”
If that goal is met, not only has Richey succeeded, society will be the ultimate beneficiary.
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