Another Dispatch From The Educational Front Line

I was a Government/Civics substitute teacher today and it was most interesting. I had three classes that were a mix of freshman to senior; the students were male and female, African American, White, Hispanic, and Asian. The task was to try and make historical Supreme Court decisions (such as Brown v. The Board of Education or Miranda v. Arizona) relevant and accessible to today's pupils, so the discussion ranged across a host of current event topics. Here is a sampling of opinions I heard debated today and I leave it to you to try and figure out which demographic said what.

Politics
Elliot Spitzer is a stupid hypocrite and absolutely should have been drummed out of office.
Prostitutes are cool.

We should keep an eye on Pakistan; they are dangerous and want to kill us all.
Pakistan is changing for the better because Zardari and Sharif have agreed to share power.
Where is Pakistan?

Affirmative action is wrong and damages white people.
White people send their children to private schools so they don't have to mix with minorities; "separate but equal" is pretty much still in effect as far as public education goes.
Minorities would not get into good schools and be routinely passed over for jobs if it weren't for affirmative action.
American society is geared towards white people.
Minorities rarely get fair chances in American society.
Minorities, especially black people, should take more responsibility for their own problems in society.

Barack Obama is a Muslim terrorist who will not pledge allegiance to the US flag.
Obama is the only one who can lead our country out of the mess we're in because he transcends race and Washington politics.
Obama is racist.
America is racist.
America is not racist.
Hillary Clinton is racist.
Clinton has a much better grasp of policy than Obama.
Hillary should have left Bill and kicked his ass out.
Hillary is a Christian who forgave her husband just like the Bible said she should.
America will never elect a black man for President.
America will never elect a woman for President.
It doesn't matter who wins the Democratic primary because either one will lose the general election.
It doesn't matter if Clinton or Obama win the general election because either one will be assassinated immediately if they do.
The Democrats will win the general election because of the economy.
John McCain is really, really old.
McCain will win the general election because he's a Republican and the Republicans always win.
McCain is a warmonger.
McCain is a war hero.
McCain who?
I'm not fighting in Iraq, you can forget that.
I'm in the reserve, I'd be proud to go to Iraq and defend my country when I graduate.
The government could re-institute the draft and make me go fight in Iraq? No way!
Who cares? Nobody listens to people like us anyways.

Immigration
Mexicans are evil. Except the ones that are actually in my class.
Mexicans are all members of gangs.
Mexicans stare at our women and want to date them and we don't like that.
All illegal immigrants, especially Mexicans, should be rounded up and deported.
America should build a wall to keep immigrants, especially Mexicans, out.
I'm not building that wall though and I'm not picking lettuce in no damn field, either.
We shouldn't have to learn Spanish or any other language, immigrants should adapt to our country, not the other way around.

Homosexuality and Gay Marriage
Gay people should all be rounded up and walled into their "own" city.
Homophobia is still a big problem in America.
Every girl needs to have at least one gay man for a friend.
Gay men are just gross but lesbians are awesome.
Homosexuality is wrong because Leviticus in the Bible says so ; therefore gay marriage is evil and wrong.
People can't help it if they're gay, they're born that way.
Being gay is a lifestyle choice.
Gay people don't belong in the military.
Better a gay fighting in Iraq than me.
A gay man better not try and touch me.
A gay man wouldn't touch you with a barge pole, so don't worry about it.

There was more, much more, but I think you get the general idea. To me, it was teenaged shapshot of debates that are going on all around the country today. I would have to say the majority of students lacked the critical thinking skills to be able defend their opinions. When challenged to explain why they thought the things they did, all they could so was shrug their shoulders and mumble that classic teenage line, "I dunno". I suspect that a lot of them were just parroting ideas or views they've heard at home and had really not given any of it much thought until they were questioned.

On the other hand, I was very pleasantly surprised at the depth of reasoning and knowledge from quite a few of these young people and their ability to articulate exactly why they felt the way they did. I enjoyed all the conversations immensely; these kids are our future and I say, don't despair, there is hope!