School's Illusions

As I scanned Facebook this evening, I found a picture that one of my elementary school classmates posted of her first grade class.  I was in a different class, but I recognized many names of long time dear friends.  It was a grainy black and white picture of the kids standing on the school steps.

One person commented, "Everyone looks so cute! Remember when girls couldn't wear pants to school? I think we were in 5th or 6th grade when this rule changed."  It was a different time and a different town.  A small town  of less than ten thousand, where a lot of college professors lived.  It was a town that helped shape who I am today.

Then, I stumbled across some pictures of a friend that I got to know right after college.  We went to the same church in New York City, a church where many of the young parishioners went on to become priests.  For some, it was a fairly quick journey, for others it took many years.  My friend was one who took a longer, more circuitous route to the priesthood.  She was up in Hartford celebrating the Ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacons where another friend from church in New York was being ordained.

The pictures of the bishops and the ordinands in their fresh scrubbed faces, most likely just out of divinity school added to my rosy thoughts about education.

All of this set an interesting contrast to my experiences Monday night when I went to the Amity Board of Education meeting.  I went to speak about my opposition to using police dogs to search students for drugs.  Yes, there were drugs at my high school thirty five years ago, and I'm sure there are drugs at Amity, but somehow, the experiences were radically different.

High school is a very difficult time for many people.  My high school classmates have shared reflections back on those days, "the tears and fears and feeling proud, to say I love you right out loud" at a school dance.  "The moons and Junes and circus clouds."  Yes, I sang "Both Sides Now" with my school chorus.

In many ways, the public comments at the Amity Board of Education focused on keeping our children safe from drugs, their right to go to a drug free school, where school policies were not considered a joke, and where there wasn't peer pressure to try drugs.  The other side of the public comment focused on the students civil rights to not be subject to unwarranted searches, and the efficacy on using police dogs to curb drug use at the high school.

If I honestly believed that using police dogs would prevent drugs from being at the school, would cause students not to view school policies as a joke, and would eliminate the peer pressure to use drugs, that I'm sure exists at Amity today, like it did at my high school thirty five years ago, I might be more inclined to support the opinion of those that would like to see broader use of police dogs at the school.  However, I don't believe that would be the result, if anything, I fear the opposite result.  Students will still find ways to use drugs.  They will still heap scorn on school polices, and they will still pressure classmates to engage in dangerous and illegal activities.

Yet returning to Both Sides Now, it's school's illusions I recall.  I remember best, things like singing in the choir, playing in the band, being in musicals.  I never was particularly talented, but I had the chance to participate in something beautiful, something bigger than myself.

My high school always had students going to All State for one reason or another.  I had some incredibly talented friends and classmates, and that is what I'm most happy to remember.  The Amity Board of Education meeting started off recognizing great teachers, and incredibly talented students at the high school.  It ended with the board voting to approve setting aside money for building a black box theatre at the school.  It struck me that those who pushed hardest to expand the use of police dogs at the school were also the ones who showed the most resistance to supporting the black box theatre.  Perhaps, this too, reflects both sides of school.

I savor my positive memories of high school, the school's illusions of talent young students with a great life ahead of them, as opposed to a view of students as suspected drug users on the road to ruin.  I hope our school board remembers this part of high school and seeks positive ways to help the students reach their dreams, whether they need help with substance abuse issues, or hitting the high note on Broadway.