SURVIVING THE RE-EDUCATION CAMPS

I've gotta hand it to my school district: for the first time in five years, we did not open the semi-annual district wide faculty meeting with a Christian prayer. Instead, we had a "moment of silence," with which I can deal, I guess. Everything else today went just about as I predicted minus the "accountablility" statistics--I guess I should count myself lucky on that score. I did get the usual verification of what public schools are actually about: there were many stern advisements about obeying the bureaucratic routine and enforcing strong discipline on students--as always, school is about authority and obedience.

One thing did unnerve me: there was discussion of how to implement the new Texas pledge law. Come to find out, in addition to having to compel students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and have a (Christian inspired) "moment of silence" on a daily basis, we must also compel students to recite a pledge to the Texas flag. My job becomes ever more creepy. I didn't even know there was a pledge to the Texas flag. It's not that I have a huge problem with saying the pledge, myself, it's just that it's pretty hardcore to insist that all students must say it; it strikes me as anti-freedom and hypocritical. After all, the state law was adopted amid all the pro-war hysteria back in April and it reeks of McCarthyism. It's more like pledging "allegiance to the war" as Jello Biafra has observed.

I just keep saying to myself, "this is my last year; this is my last year."

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