Let me roll out the red carpet and as always, I will thank each and every one I see. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!
Posted on 03/16/2005 8:57:47 AM PST by Patriot62
SCHOOL'S STAGE WAS SET FOR A STARK LESSON
Three invited pro-military speakers were shocked last Friday when they arrived for a West Seattle High student assembly to confront a theater stage strewn with figures costumed as Iraqi men, women and children splashed with blood.
It was a warm-up for the "Iraq Awareness Assembly" so no students except the actual actors saw the skit before the military guests complained to principal Susan Derse and she put a stop to it. And here comes the crucial part: no teachers or advisers were on hand or evidently even aware of the content although that part is one of several things still under investigation.
What happened at West Seattle High was troubling and messy, to be sure. But it also was educational, if you don't mind learning the hard way. Lessons don't all come neatly packaged. Sometimes they come laced with pain, anger, regret and conflicting passions.
In the aftermath of the assembly, students, administrators and staff are learning, among other things, just how deep run the emotional divisions behind the bumper stickers they may encounter in the school parking lot.
"War is terrorism!," "No Iraq War!" and "Not in My Name!" some slogans say. "Land of the Free Because of the Brave!," "My Daughter Is Serving in Iraq" and "Proud American, Embarrassed Washingtonian (with photos of Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jim McDermott)" others declare.
For Nadine Gulit of Operation Support Our Troops, the spectacle was sickening.
She had been asked by student organizers to provide three speakers and she delivered.
"I was told there would be three on each side. No debates. No rebuttal," she said in the e-mail she fired off to members of the Seattle School Board. "At no time was I referred to a teacher nor did a teacher contact me. As I walked into the theater there was a young girl wearing a mask and crawling on the floor. And, over the loud speaker (someone) was denouncing our military, saying 'Americans are killing my family!' "
Not a good thing for "impressionable students who may have family serving Iraq," Gulit told student organizers. "Two of our speakers had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan."
With her speakers in tow, Gulit saw the bloodied figures on the floor. Stage right were students in orange Abu Ghraib-style prison jumpsuits, hoods over heads, pounding on plates with spoons. Next, a student dressed as a grieving Iraqi woman knelt near a bloody body while, over a microphone, a narrator wailed the story of civilians shot, kicked and beaten by American soldiers.
"Did anyone with authority read this script?" wondered Diane Anderson, another adult on the pro-military side who attended the assembly.
Good question and one I tried to ask. Attempts to reach principal Derse were unsuccessful. But Seattle Schools communications manager Patti Spencer filled in what blanks she could.
"It isn't clear at this moment to what extent any adults on staff knew what the pre-assembly theatrical element was going to be," she told me. "The initial understanding, the point of the assembly, was for it to be completely thorough and balanced -- three speakers to support the troops, three who were anti-war. And the drama or enactment was supposed to be the same."
Obviously that part went awry. Apparently the plan was for students to file into the auditorium as the play was going on. But, when she got wind of the content of the skit, Derse issued an announcement that all students be detained in their rooms until after the stage could be cleared. "The only folks who saw it were the students putting it on and, unfortunately, the guest speakers," Spencer said.
There's disagreement, too, about the tone of the rest of the assembly. Gulit credits Derse for putting a swift stop to the skit but claims the panel discussion was loaded on the anti-war side.
But a letter to the school from at least one of the military participants said the panel was fair and balanced. It was a lively discussion peppered with heatedly conflicting views. But mutual respect reigned.
And that is as it should be. High school students have every right to question the war in Iraq and how its civilians are being treated. After all, it's a war that some of them may very well soon be fighting.
Still, no one wants a rancid replay of the days when young Vietnam War vets returned to pigs' blood and cries of "Baby killer!"
There is nothing quite so powerful as the first stirrings of political protest. But, since the assembly, students are learning the importance of condemning policy, not the young people near their own age who are sent into danger to serve.
Despite all the fallout, it's a lesson bloody well worth learning.
Susan Paynter's column appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Call her at 206-448-8392 or send e-mail to susanpaynter@seattlepi.com.
Let me roll out the red carpet and as always, I will thank each and every one I see. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!
Can you post her e-mail information. I'd like to send her a note too.
Nope, they migrate like lemmings to Seattle. I've got a brother (left of Ted Kennedy) who moved from Houston TX because it was too conservative. He moved to Seattle and is happy as a hog in sh*t.
I think the military should turn down speaking at schools like this. To have them exposed to this kind of crap is hideous!!
Red Doper baby ping!
"School should be an institute of education. Of learning, not a facility for student activism. "
I could not agree more, however, what is going on in the world today is history in the making & therefore education. It is the way it is being handled in our schools that is the problem, IMHO. I was in high school during the Kent State University slayings, which was the result of the Vietnam war & ROTC protest. My Government class teacher had an open discussion day about it. We all voiced our opinions on the students & the police. The difference back then is he did not force his opinion or ideology on us. He was not an activist teacher.
Anyone who believes that, I've got a bridge I can let you have...cheap.
As well it should.
The Holy Scripture advises thus:
"...neither cast your pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."
Matt. 7:6
I agree with whoever said the military should stay away from 'the swine".
OK, I'll just come out and say it.
Seattle is well-and-truly f**ked up.
Did the statue get there at pulic expense? Surely there is a way to protest that garbage...
public, not pulic (obviously)
Lenin statues were being sold at bargain basement prices after the breakup of the Soviet Union. This one was purchased for next to nothing. It is in the Freemont district of Seattle which is a former hippie hangout. I am happy to inform you that Lenin is now surrounded by new developments and signs that capitlaism is alive and well in Freemont are everywhere. It is the statue of a failure now.
On the evening of 9/11 I attended a "Pacifist Peace Rally" in Seattle. I fully intended on just observing. After about 2 minutes of listening I could not take it any more. I went up in front of the stage and spoke my mind whenever the MC said something stupid. It was a target rich environment. They actually had "Pacifist Peace Warriors" surround me while holding hands. Their purpose was to "absorb my negative energy". The MC approached me after the rally and asked me "Whats your problem man". I looked him in the eye and told him. I think he regreted asking the question.
I am telling you that the majority of urban Seattleites are a lost cause.
The way I understand it, it was paid for by private donations. It has NO business on public lands, however. The only protest that they understand in Fremont is a bunch of queers riding their bicycles naked through town. And no, I'm not kidding. They do it every year. Fremont District is the artsy-fartsy, hippy-dippy, liberal sewer of Seattle (if such a thing could actually be differentiated from the rest of the city).
I live in the downtown core, and couldn't agree more.
Last July 4th, a crowd jeered, booed, and name-called a veteran walking in a parade carrying a pro-Bush sign. Nothing coming out of that sh*thole surprises me anymore.
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That makes my blood boil. I hope someone in that crowd had the guts to stand by the veteran or defend him. You know, sometimes I really hope I am present when a slacker anti-troop dirtbag attempts to spit on or harrass a vet, of any war. I may be 5' 2", but I'd make sure that dirtbag looked around before he did it again.
We are not going to let them do to these vets what they got away with doing to the soldiers returning from Vietnam. No way, not this time. And I hope some DUmmies are reading this--we will not let you do this to our troops, you buckets of putred slime.
Thank you, beeler, for letting me vent.
"which was the result of the Vietnam war & ROTC protest."
I'm sure that this was just an oversight and you were not suggesting that this is the reason for the war.
"..,however, what is going on in the world today is history in the making & therefore education."
Life is history. Events, whether it has an impact on us personally, within our community, nationally, or globally, is part of that history. To include current events in your social studies or history class that has a significant impact on society goes without saying. What took place in Seattle, and what is going on throughout our public schools in this country is anything but education, but rather indoctrination and propaganda.
To present an event in history/time and impose your ideology without an opposing view is not education. Although there was a so called pro/anti presentation in Seattle, that is not the norm in our schools. And it would appear that the panel was one sided, heavily tilting to the left.
The way in which your teacher addressed the tragic events that took place was educational. That was not 'activism'. That was a fair discussion on current topical studies. This event is just another sad commentary on the state of our public education system.
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