Thankfulness

I am writing this blog on Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day, and like many of you, I am trying to finish all the chores related to Thanksgiving and leave time to rest in order to enjoy Thursday. I am not sure this will happen. I wonder how we have digressed to the place in our culture that we dread days that should be filled with happiness, celebration, and contentment. As a teacher, the Thanksgiving break was not much of a break. I was often too busy grading student assignments that were turned in before the break. However, I think as teachers we have often missed the opportunity to make this attitude of “thankfulness” a significant part of our teaching and learning experience with our students.

I want to tell you a story that forever made thankfulness a significant part of my life. My first-grade teacher was Ms. Presley. She and her husband were not from the East Tennessee region. I do know that her husband was a scientist at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Laboratory during World War II. They chose not to live in Oak Ridge and ended up in a rural area of Loudon County. By the time I became a senior in high school I had long realized that she had been a significant part of my educational experience. I didn’t know what made her better than most other teachers, but I knew that she was. Consequently, in the spring of 1967 when I graduated from Loudon High School, I sent four “thank you notes”--two were sent to individuals who I felt had made a significant difference in my life. One of those was Ms. Presley, my first-grade teacher.

She did not teach the next year because her children were entering high school, and she wanted to be able to spend time with them in their activities. After her husband died and with serious health issues, she moved to Maryland to live with one of her daughters.

I came to Maryville College in the fall of 1990 and began my 28 years in teacher education at the College. In the mid-1990s, while we were living on the family farm in Loudon County, I received a phone call from Carl who lived not far from our home. When I answered the phone he asked, “Can you come over to my house; there is someone here that wants to see you?” As I drove to his house, I had no idea who this individual was.

As I walked into the home, I saw an older lady sitting by the kitchen table. Carl asked, ”You don’t know who this is, do you?” I suppose all I did was nod because I did not know who she was. With a big smile on his face, Carl said, “This is Ms. Presley, your first-grade teacher.”

Ms. Presley also smiled and said, “Terry, I cannot really see you because I am almost totally blind. I can see the outline of your body but not your face or any physical feature. However, I wanted to come and see you.” She went on to tell me that I was the only student that she taught who came back to say “thank you” for being my teacher. She was nearly 90 years-old. She shared with me that one of the reasons she had to make this trip to Tennessee from Maryland was to say “thank you” to me--her student.

I always told this story to my teacher licensure students right before the Thanksgiving break or at the close of the semester. I would tell them to think of that teacher that made a difference in their lives, to write the “thank you letter,” and to give specific reasons as to why that teacher made a difference.

Have you ever been thankful for your students? Have you told them? You still have time before the close of the semester.

Bless You My Children, 
TLS

After This Bitter Election, What Do I Expect of Our Schools?

As I start writing this blog, I am sitting at my desk on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Yes, it is election day, and Deborah and I plan to vote this afternoon. I am ready to see the end of this campaigning season. We have experienced everything from hateful name-calling to the massacre of 11 Americans who were worshiping in their Jewish synagogue. As a history teacher, this massacre greatly troubles my soul. Are we no better than the Nazis during the 1930s?

We are historically incorrect and politically naïve if we think elections in this country were much more civil in the past. As a native of Tennessee, I have often read the story of the election of Andrew Jackson as the 7th President of the United States. Jackson made bitter enemies throughout his lifetime, and they wanted to prevent him from becoming president of the United States. However, it was next to impossible to shake the confidence of Jackson, so they went after Rachel, his wife. She was called the epitome of a profligate woman: a bigamist, an adulteress, and a whore. Their accusations were so hurtful and vicious that she died between election day and the day that Jackson was to take the office of President of the United States. Jackson became so depressed that many of his supporters feared that he would not go to Washington to take the oath of office. Jackson blamed her death on his political enemies, especially Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun. They were Jackson’s bitter enemies until the day he died.

Another presidential election that was filled with name-calling was the election in which Theodore Roosevelt ran as a third-party candidate. Although he had been a friend, Roosevelt grew to despise his hand-picked successor in the Republican Party, William Howard Taft, toward whom he directed his hate-filled speech and name-calling.

To add to our pain, in 2018 we live with the power of technology, especially the Internet and 24-hour news cycles. This means that we cannot get away from the hateful speech and name-calling, as well as the senseless acts of violence.

Regardless, we cannot stand by and not do nothing. We owe our children a response to the civic and political climate in which they are being raised. Yes, I do have a few suggestions for schools.

Suggestion one: Students will be able to define stereotype and give a current example of a group being unfairly judged through stereotype. 

It is unethical to stereotype an entire group of people based on the knowledge one has of a single individual or a few individuals in that particular group. The group could be a religious group, ethnic group or any group different from the dominant group to which I belong. I learned in the early elementary grades at Davis Elementary School that it was not fair to judge an entire group based on this limited knowledge of the entire group.

Suggestion two: Students will be able to define ad hominem and give several current examples of individuals or groups on the receiving end of ad hominem attacks. 

One of the most rejected attacks in academic debate is an ad hominem attack, which can take the form of overtly attacking someone or casting doubt on their character as a way to discredit their argument through personal abuse, personal attacks by name-calling, or refutation by caricature of the person. In a formal academic debate this type of attack would get you an “F”. Too bad that we could not give many of our political candidates an “F” during this past election cycle. This will only be stopped when we refuse to listen to a politician that resorts to attacking the person rather than the ideas of that person.

The National Institute for Civil Discourse has as a purpose to revive civility in our civil discourse. They state that making fun of a political opponent, making disrespectful or demeaning statements, refusing to listen to arguments of different points of view, and making exaggerated statements that misrepresent the truth must be rejected in our civil discourse.

As a teacher in middle school, high school, and at the college level I have concluded that we must rediscover that in our democratic republic all citizens have the right to express their views in the marketplace of ideas. I am required to respect all people even those who have views which I reject. 

As John Dewey argued many years ago, the school classroom should operate as a miniature democracy. In other words, students need to practice civil discourse. If this does not become a priority in our schools, both public and private, I fear the end result for our country.


Bless you my children, 
tls

Dr. Terry L. Simpson,
Professor Emeritus 
Maryville College Educator Preparation Program

Image Source: [Onlin image/logo]. Retrieved November 8, 2018 from https://www.revivecivility.org/ 

They have lied to me; all of my teachers have lied to me.

I have taught middle school social studies, high school American history and world history, and American history in two different community colleges in two states: Tennessee and Texas.  On May 20, 2018, after completing 28 years at Maryville College, I retired as Director of Teacher Education.  Deborah and I moved to Tyler, Texas to be closer to our children and grandchildren.  I have rediscovered that public education in both states face similar issues in their history and social studies curricula regarding state required standards, historical content, and the strongly held views of various community and political groups.

A few weeks back, a short paragraph in the Tyler newspaper caught my eye.  It reported an argument over history standards in Texas.  One of those arguments seemed to basically boil down to this:  Should all of those Americans/Texans who died at the Alamo be considered heroes?  If I have misrepresented this issue, please let me know.  After all, it was a very short article.   

Being from Tennessee and growing up less than 100 hundred miles from the birthplace of Davy Crockett, I will never forget when I read for the first time that several historians had concluded that Davy Crockett may not have died like a hero at the Alamo. Some recent documentation they had read seemed to suggest he died more like a coward begging for his life. My reaction was explosive. What is this?  It must be some of those communist college professors incorporating revisionist theory to destroy our country and its values.  Please remember this was a few years after the McCarthy era.   

But the real shocker to everything I believed took place in 1971 in a graduate history course I was taking at Middle Tennessee State University.  The event under investigation was The Boston Massacre.  I was taking this course several years before the internet, websites, and email made a dramatic change in the availability of primary sources.  However, the library had copies of historical documents on microfiche.  I had the opportunity to read accounts of this event in colonial newspapers as well as accounts in newspapers in England.  In colonial newspapers this event was called The Boston Massacre, but in English newspapers it was called The Boston Riot.  But which description was more accurate?  These differing accounts put me in a real moral dilemma over patriotism and truth.  

This was the first time in my young academic career that I examined a controversial historical event in  detail from various viewpoints.  Who were the Americans in the crowd that confronted a single British soldier and later the soldiers who came to protect him?  Were they average citizens of Boston coming out for an evening stroll? Not really.  They were mainly sailors recruited from a local tavern.  During what time of the day did this event take place?  During the night.  Did the soldiers attack these Americans without cause?  Not really.  The colonists first attacked the lone sentry and later the other soldiers who came to protect him by screaming at the soldiers and throwing ice and rocks.  In this state of mass confusion, the soldiers fired on the Americans killing five.  Were any legal actions taken against these soldiers?  Yes, they were put on trial.  Where, in London?  No, in Boston.  I have read transcripts of testimonies given by several soldiers at the trial.  The soldiers were defended by John Adams who later served as President of the United States.  Captain Preston, the officer in charge of the soldiers, was found not guilty of murder.  Only two of the soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and were branded on their thumbs.   

After completing this research, I left and while walking down the library steps, I kept saying to myself, “They have lied to me; my teachers have lied to me.”  My conclusion was that this event should more correctly be described as The Boston Riot.  If the history teacher includes both versions as he/she describes this event (a pivotal event in the American myth), Does this make the teacher unpatriotic or unamerican?  I hope not, but in the real world, I know this is possible in many communities.   

We live in a climate where politicians and community leaders at the highest levels often confuse myth with truth.  When we allow history to distort the truth for propaganda purposes, the end result is down right scary.   

Bless You My Children,
tls 

Dr. Terry L. Simpson 

Professor Emeritus 

Maryville College Educator Preparation Program 

Faith and Professionalism: The Molding of a Teacher ... Dr. Terry L. Simpson

FAITH & PROFESSIONALISM:

The Molding of a Teacher

Dr. Terry L. Simpson

Dr. Simpson will retire at the close of the 2018 Spring Semester. He will have completed 28 years at Maryville College and 44 years as a teacher.

Click here to watch Dr. Simpson's "Last Lecture"

What Kind of World are we Leaving to our Children?

The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.
--Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I came across this quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer several years ago.  As a father, grandfather, teacher, and teacher educator, this quote haunts me more each time I read it.  I am concerned that we are leaving our children an ethical tsunami. 

I was awarded a Fulbright Lecturer Award to Estonia during the 2000 Fall Semester.  A year later, we brought a group of Estonian students with one of their professors to Maryville College to visit our public schools.  On the first morning, I met with the students before they were taken to the schools, and they seemed very nervous.  As I quizzed the students, one student finally asked, “Will we see any guns?”  How do people from other countries view us? ...as drunken cowboys shooting everyone who makes them mad?

Thirty years ago I had never dreamed that our children would be facing the following issues:

• Many of our children do not want to go to school because they are afraid that they may be shot and killed.
• We have children as young as 12 years-old who are kidnapped from our communities and forced into the sexual slavery world. This human trafficking is happening in our country and communities and is not isolated to third world countries.
• We live in a society where many advocate that we arm first-grade teachers to stop the slaughter of children in our schools.
• I never thought I would live to see the day that we would need more than one armed guard to protect our children. This is not Iraq, Pakistan, or Afghanistan but the United States. Are we becoming the land of the enslaved to fear instead of the land of the free?
• It is quite troubling how often in our local paper I read stories of children who have been sexually abused by family members.
• We do not seemed to be appalled that many children who live in poor families do not have adequate healthcare.

Children have become a liability instead of a blessing.

I return to the quote, “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”  Savannah, Victoria, Daniel, and Isabella, I must confess that I have let you down.  I request that somehow you may find the grace to forgive me.  

Bless you my children,

Dr. Terry L. Simpson

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Courage

Dr. Terry L. Simpson
Director of Teacher Education
Maryville College
February 16, 2018

Bless You My Children Blog

Courage

Courage is a virtue that most people wish to have, not cowardice or foolhardiness, but genuine courage.  It is often used to describe the actions of one in a struggle against overwhelming odds.  Most of the people I know hope they can demonstrate courage at the appropriate time, but deep down inside they fear that their actions will turn out to be cowardice rather than courage.

As a college professor, I am like most professors in that I encourage my students to stand up for their beliefs in spite of the strength of those who oppose them.  I have often told my students that as their professor, I try not to be a hypocrite and ask them to take a stand on controversial issues, which I avoid.  I have found that professors often talk about displaying courage in the classroom, but outside the classroom we become weak, spineless cowards.

When it comes to responding to school shootings, I have been a hypocrite and coward.  I have asked for a moment of silence in my classes the day after school shootings.  I have asked my students to pray for the families of students who have been killed, which is often a copout that leads to doing  nothing meaningful.  I do not want to hear another politician asking me to pray for those impacted by one of these vicious actions.  It is time to act.

I contend that the overwhelming majority of politicians, law enforcement personnel and educators are well aware of the one action that would stop these mass shootings of our children.  We must ban automatic assault rifles.  No one outside the military needs these weapons.  However, one of the significant reasons for the Republic take-over of Congress in the 1994 elections was a response against the ban on assault weapons.  Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress are well aware of the reaction to this ban led by the NRA.  As a result, they are going to sit on their hands and do nothing.  We should not expect any meaningful action until the members of Congress believe that the NRA block has been broken.

As an educator, but more importantly, as a citizen who loves this country, I make one vow on this Friday morning. I will never vote for another politician who receives money from the NRA.  I am well aware that “most” of my extended family, high school and college classmates, and members of my church family will oppose this decision to the point of anger.  I cannot control what others think and believe.  I came to this decision from convictions deep within my soul.  I must do my duty, as God has given me the light, regardless of the consequences.  To do otherwise would make me a coward.

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer