Periodically the most extreme of the conservatives organize essentially to take over the public schools, with an eye toward firing radical left teachers, enforcing a sanitized, xenophobic, Christian curriculum; and wiping out teachers unions. This happened in the 1950s in Lewistown, when I was in high school. In those days it was the John Birch Society that conspired to take over the school board, which they did. Before long, every high school teacher with a Masters degree was gone, several of them damaged by charges of communism. Replacements were brought in from the small teachers colleges in the Dakotas. New administrators were hired, one of whom told Catholic students they would have to transfer to St. Leos the next year. I was valedictorian, and known not only as a Democrat, but also called a communist by some Republican leaders in the community. The salutatorians parents were high-profile Democrats. The school board adopted a new rule that class speakers would no longer automatically be the valedictorian and salutatorian, but would be elected by the senior class. We were both elected anyway. As the Birchers began their takeover, the town was torn apart; I suspect some of the wounds have never healed. I note this briefly in If You Live by the Sword.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 20:42:16 +0000
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