School Issues Newsletter #68

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School Issues Newsletter #68
Date: 01/17/2001 10:37:46 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: jklagge@bev.net
To: jklagge@vt.edu

Dear Friends,

(Note: I was having trouble with my computer when I tried to send this yesterday--I'm sorry if you got more than one copy. There is one new bit of info here under section 4.)

After my last newsletter I got more than the usual number of requests to be removed from the mailing list. But I'll remind you anyway that that is always an option at your request.

1) At our first school board meeting in January, Wat Hopkins was elected Chair, and Tina McPherson as Vice Chair. This was certainly with my support (even though Wat and I got to the meeting several minutes late because of a traffic jam and so were unable to vote!). In my notebook of school board matters I counted 127 meetings I went to last year in my role as chair or as SB member. Keeping that pace up for 3 years was all I could do. I'm happy to pass on this role, and I think it is good that various people get to do it. I still have 3 more years left on my term as SB member. And I'll now have more time to devote to occasionally creating these newsletters. (Another reminder--I am just speaking for myself and not for the SB when I express opinions.)

2) In January we tend to have meetings almost every Tuesday and Thursday because of the need to formulate a budget. But that is not all that we attend to: At our meeting on Thursday (1/18--at 7pm) we will be hearing a report from a State Department of Education group that (at our request) reviewed our vocational programs in the county. This is important because not all students can or should go on to 4-year colleges, and we need to find ways to ensure that they will be able to lead productive and fulfilling lives right out of high school. All HS grads in the county have to take at least one vocational class. Also, many of the vocational offerings are useful to students who do go on the college. My son, for example is taking drafting, and hoping to be an engineer. It is also important because it may impact on what uses we make of some of our facilities--e.g., BMS and CMS. While I am not initially inclined in this direction, one possibility is to have some vocational programs unified into a single building for all students around the county. So this review, our recent review of our facilities, and our recently updated demographic projections all become relevant to some important work that I hope we will do this year in long-term planning.

3) As usual, the prospects for next year's budget are tight--mostly at the state-level, for reasons that have been well-explained in the news media concerning the continued increase (or not) of the car tax refund. Concerning those things we can have more direct influence over, however, the SB has had 3 joint meeting with the Board of Supervisors this year concerning issues that directly impact our budget--one on teacher compensation, one on facilities and maintenance, and one on the county's fiscal outlook. These meetings helped to increase a sense of mutual understanding and cooperation between the two boards, which I hope will work to the advantage of education in Montgomery County. Since we do not set taxes ourselves, but rely on the BoS who sets taxes and allocates a budget to us, it is important to let your views about funding education be known to your county supervisor. Here is a list of them (with their e-mail addresses). (If you do not know who your supervisor is, because you are unsure what voting district you are in, you can call 382-5741 to find out):

Montgomery County Board of Supervisors

Dist. A Annette S. Perkins
1407 Valley View Dr., Blacksburg, 24060, Home 552-4706, aperkins@naxs.net

Dist. B Larry "Nick" Rush, Vice-chair
231 Lester St., Christiansburg, 24073, Home 381-2174, Office 382-7505,
nrush@naxs.com

Dist. C Joe C. Stewart
POB 275, 8919 Roanoke St., Elliston, 24087, Home 268-2303, Office 382-2291
(Thursdays only), vswinney@naxs.com

Dist. D James D. Politis
5629 Brush Creek Rd., Riner, 24149, Home 381-2778, Office 381-9764,
bcbuffalo@aol.com

Dist. E C. P. "Chuck" Shorter
4595 Long Shop Rd., Blacksburg, 24060, Home 552-2040, Office 231-5777,
cpshorter@naxs.net

Dist. F Mary W. Biggs, Chair
701 Hutchenson Dr., Blacksburg, 24060, Home 951-2906, Office 951-5732,
mbiggs@naxs.com

Dist. G John A. Muffo
227 Craig Dr., Blacksburg, 24060, Home 953-0563, Office 231-6003, muffo@vt.edu.

And the county administrator is Jeff Johnson (jdjohnson@naxs.com).

4) I hope some of you took the opportunity to attend the public information session about the Indian mascot at Blacksburg High School on January 4, sponsored by the BHS Task Force. Or if not, perhaps you saw it re-broadcast on the Blacksburg Public Access channel, as I did. (The Blacksburg channel will rebroadcast this Saturday, 1/20 at 9am; Monday, 1/22 at 10am; and Wednesday, 1/24 at 6pm.) It was very moving to hear the deep feelings from which many people spoke, and it was heartening to hear the openness of others. No one who hears people from the many sides of this issue can avoid reflecting on its complications. This event was good evidence that the Task Force is doing its job of engaging people in a serious discussion of this issue.

What came across most strikingly to me from hearing supporters of the Indian mascot speak was their pride in the Indian mascot, and their amazement that anyone could find anything negative in its use. I take this reaction of supporters of the Indian mascot to be completely honest, and so I find myself wondering anew how to convey the concerns about the use of the mascot in a way that can be appreciated.

I think the problem comes from the difference between Indians and the Indian. At BHS the Indian mostly stands for success in athletic competition. But not only that. It also stands for trying your best in all aspects of student life. We focus on the courage, strength, honesty, and integrity of the Indian, and we see how these traits are valuable in all kinds of pursuits at school. We need the strength to do our best in athletic competitions, we need honesty to be good students, we need courage to try hard even in adversity, we need integrity to certify that our achievements came in the right way. No one can doubt the value of those traits, and we have taken the Indian to embody them. We can and do take pride in the Indian because the Indian stands for these marvelous things. And who can justly complain about that?

Without denying that many Indians had and have these traits, let us also think about what some Indians stood for, or stand for. Indians stood for continuing use of their land, which was slowly being taken over by settlers of European heritage. Indians stood for sticking to treaties that protected their land, even though none of these treaties were ultimately honored--even now. Indians stood for revenge, sometimes murderous revenge, when other avenues of interaction collapsed. Indians stood for hunting, even when they were supposed to be content with farming. Indians stood for their own religious traditions, even in the face of Christian missionaries. Indians stood for keeping their own languages alive, even when state and federal authorities insisted on English-only instruction in schools. Indians stood for self-determination in use of their remaining lands, even if this sometimes meant casinos or mining.

These are not goals that all Indians had or have, because there were and are so many different Indians and different goals. But it helps to be reminded of the kind of things that Indians have stood for--things that have regularly put Indians into conflict with people of other heritages on this continent. So for people of other heritages to take the IDEA of the Indian, strip it of all the kinds of things that real Indians have stood for, and substitute their own tamed goals of scholastic success, and then enroll the Indian in support of this sanitized project, is what is problematic. Of course Indians cared about courage, strength, honesty, and integrity, and many Indians had these traits (although it is unclear whether the traits are more common among Indians than among other heritages), but the traits were part of a set of cultures that had goals wildly divergent from the goals of most people of European heritage. Indeed, the goals were so wildly divergent that ultimately the Indians were made to give up their goals or die. For the victors to then pay tribute to the sanitized idea of the Indian in this way can be seen as an insult--even when the intention is just the opposite.

For supporters of the Indian mascot to emphasize how much they honor the Indian is admirable, but it misses the point. Honoring this incomplete image just pours salt in the wounds of many of those who trace their heritage to real Indians with the goals that Indians have or have had. And I hope this helps explain how the Indian is a problematic stereotype--it focuses on some characteristics to the exclusion of other characteristics, in a way that gives a seriously false impression. It leaves out all the things that so many Indians USED these honorable traits IN PURSUIT OF. It would be like enrolling “the Christian” as a mascot because of his faith and courage for a Roman Empire chariot-racing team, ignoring the fact that these traits were displayed precisely in the face of martyrdom by the Romans.

We’ve all heard how readily people take pride in the Indian. That’s easy when WE define the image. But what would it be to take pride in Indians--as they were and as they are? I know that I, as a person of European heritage, don’t know how to answer that question.

I hope this discussion also explains how it is that there can be Indians on different sides of this issue. Some Indians may think recalling an incomplete image of the Indian is better than no image at all. This would be most likely in cases where people of Indian heritage no longer identify with any of the goals that Indians had--only with their character traits. Other Indians may think that the incomplete image of the Indian does more harm than good because it is another step in marginalizing the goals of real Indians, and sanitizing the historical record of how thoroughly the goals of real Indians were eradicated. It turns Indians into (nothing more than) fans of middle class scholastic success. Some may take the fact that there are Indians on both sides of this issue as permission to choose whatever side you want. I'm inclined to think that it shows that we each have to weigh the issues and make a judgement on those issues. The point is not just that some people are complaining so we should (or, why should we) placate them. The issue is what are we teaching to our children and the community by having this mascot? And is that what we should/want to be teaching? Again, as I have said, this is an educational issue.

If you've read this far then I thank you for your patience as I continue to think through this issue aloud.

Jim Klagge
District F representative
Montgomery County School Board.

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