The question they never ask
Zepezauer, Frank
for pacifists only. Sharp sincerely believes that CBD can stand on its own as a practical, effective alternative to war. As he put it, we may be able to give up military weapons for the...
...Those teachers were told that budget cats forced the overload...
...These are worthwhile programs, but from an academic perspective they should be installed only after the fundamental curriculum is in good shape...
...As he put it, we may be able to give up military weapons for the same reason we gave up bows and arrows -- not because they are wicked and immoral -- but because we have discovered a better weapons system...
...Yet their overwrought assessment may yet prove prophetic...
...Blunting the aggression of an adversary or oppressor would not be enough...
...The Catholic bishops are not the only religious body to recognize the potential importance of civilian defense...
...Even if all sex education teachers were as good as required, their courses as effective as hoped, their support from the public as broad as possible, we would still pay a stiff price...
...We might have spared ourselves the cost and argument had we first asked, "Where will we find enough good teachers...
...Needless to say, only a certain type of teacher would be effective in these courses...
...If sex education diverts good teachers from academic courses, it also diverts needed funds...
...However, that's not the way it works...
...In Europe even the headmaster of secondary schools often teaches a course or two...
...But such large numbers also meant that more than a few did not pass muster...
...The bishops state that the objective of nonviolent resistance is "to seek the good of the other...
...If we recruit thousands of able teachers to teach and administer s e x education programs, we will therefore take them away from courses where they are needed...
...Yet they learned that millions of dollars nationally will be ticketed not only for sex education, but also for public nurseries, bilingual education, special help for the handicapped, and racial integration...
...What is needed is for Christians who are concerned about the increasing violence of modern warfare to encourage research into nonviolent methods of resistance...
...Could we find enough to insure strong programs throughout the country...
...Commonweal: 238 Fern's "certain type" of sex educator points to the most obvious...
...In pro-education Palo Alto, California, for example, composition teachers who only five years ago met 100 students now average over 150...
...Worse yet, good counselors had once been good teachers, the kind with a knack for relating with the often puzzling teen-ager...
...Needless to say, Fern does not ask where we will find that certain type of teacher...
...In spite of these disturbing portents, we have initiated any number of multi-million-dollar sex education programs...
...l 1 . - . . . . T ~ . _ . . T _ILT_-.~_~SS_.~_-LLL.__U_3~-V-_ ~ S T - . - - ~ - ~ T T Y . - - ~ - ~ - - ~ : ' ? : : : ~ 2 2 ~ . ~ . 5 - . . . . - " . r , * *~ l ' , ! n ~ J . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : = ~ , , . -1"O "TE'F~(a .,, ,, ",_ SEX EDUCATION IS ONLY THE LATEST EXAMPLE The question they never ask FRANK ZEPEZAUER ~ I~~!E SHOULD HAVE compulsory sex education in the Ill public schools," says Dean William Fern of Mt...
...Several reasons compel our looking at the question and its implications...
...Such education," he continues, "must stress the indispensable values of responsibility, fidelity, and love in sexual relationships...
...In colleges, on the other hand, many administrators keep active in their disciplines...
...At the very least, well-informed about the biology and psychology of sex, sensitive to its cultural context, astutely diplomatic regarding its role in competing moral systems, able to maintain adult composure while working with immature students on the most personal and volatile of subjects...
...Holyoke College in Commonweal [June 19, 1981...
...Probably not...
...His failure to ask the question reflects our ambivalence toward tax-supported schools: on the one hand, they are the cause of our problems...
...The goal is winning the other over, making the adversary a friend...
...Yet, whether we are liberals calling for up-to-date courses in sexuality or conservatives demanding Judeo-Christian moral training, we must first ask, "Where will we find enough good teachers to do the job...
...In the early fifties, for instance, we touted school counselors as the answer to many scholastic and social problems...
...Sharp does not advocate transarmament for any nation at this point...
...Enrollment in teacher education programs has fallen by half since 1973...
...Suppose, nevertheless, we could find enough of Fern's special type of teacher...
...Until then, even most moral and well-intentioned Christians will not feel comfortable in renouncing violent forms of struggle...
...Even during the prosperous fifties when many districts could recruit their share of talent, the sheer magnitude of public education confounded efforts to keep standards high...
...This is an important point because if the only objective is "making the adversary a friend," then certain tactics could not be used for fear of alienating the opponent, thus limiting the effectiveness of CBD...
...But if a system of nonviolent sanctions can be developed that is as effective as violence, perhaps there is a way out of this dilemma...
...Many counselors performed as advertised, but there were never enough of them and even the best faced client loads exceeding two hundred...
...We've been robbing academic programs in that way for years...
...And, to play a significant part in a Christian theology of peace...
...Converting the opponent is all well and good if it should occur, but there are times when this may be impossible, and we must not rule out the more common forms of victory: accommodation and coercion...
...Today's critics speak of the "failure of the schools" as if they reported undisputed fact...
...Probably...
...During those years we also lost many good teachers to administration whose ranks swelled because of the ever increasing regulations imposed by state and federal programs...
...During the eighties, these teachers are being told once more to wait a little while longer, just long enough for us to straighten out America's youth on their sexuality...
...During a period when many of us demand a return to the basics, teachers of a basic called writing find increasingly large class loads...
...bishops are in complete agreement...
...What is needed, he says, is hard-headed research by both governmental and non-governmental institutions to determine its feasibility, and develop and refine strategy and tactics to increase effectiveness...
...The nonviolent technique," Sharp writes, is"an underdeveloped political technique, probably at the stage comparable to violent group conflict several thousand years ago...
...on the other hand, the solution...
...And later they write, "Nonviolent resistance offers a common ground of agreement for those individuals who choose the option of Christian pacifism even to the point of accepting the need to die rather than kill and those who choose the option of lethal force allowed by the theology of just war...
...20 April 1984:239...
...Those years were good only in comparison to what followed when public confidence plummeted, tax support shriveled, and good talent escaped to other professions...
...The cost therefore is high...
...On the need for more research into nonviolent resistance, Sharp and the U.S...
...Those new specialist educators were supposed to help kids function better in the classroom and deal more effectively with personal problems and career choices...
...There were 4 million teachers, many of them very good, many others reasonably competent...
...nl _~ FRANK ZEPEZAUER teaches English at Menlo-Atherton High School in California...
...Sharp, the pragmatist, would counter that the only goal of nonviolent action must be victory...
...But in America where the concept of educating the total child has taken hold, any program that services some need of the student qualifies as education...
...What should such a teacher be like...
...In their letter the bishops write: "Nonviolent means of resistance to evil deserve much more study and consideration than they have thus far received...
...In the past, Christians faced with evil and injustice have often had to choose between two distasteful alternatives: submit, or resist with force of arms...
...We should note in passing another cost...
...As usual, a few experimental courses may show promise, and a few districts may boast successful programs, but elsewhere we risk putting children into highly sensitive courses taught by teachers of average or below average competence...
...We would still pay a heavy price because the superteachers needed for properly handled sex education courses would no longer be teaching math or science or English...
...If some district's sex education program grows large enough, you can bet it too will have a "coordinator" who has left the classroom to process papers...
...CBD must not only help reduce the level of violence in the world, it must also prove an effective method of struggle against oppression and injustice...
...Gene Sharp believes the possibility now exists to deliberately contribute to a new stage in human history, leading perhaps to the "transformation of politics and the justifiable restoration of hope...
...Could we find such teachers...
...Many of those remaining form the lower half of academic ability with SAT scores falling 48 points below the national average in math and 35 points in verbal skills...
...Even though since 1912 students of the writing problem have recommended no more than 100 students for composition teachers, in every succeeding decade some pressing social program has elbowed its way forward to top priority...
...The United Methodist church has adopted a resolution calling for more study on CBD, and there is interest among some evangelicals...
...As the bishops state, "We believe work to develop nonviolent means of fending off aggression and resolving conflict best reflects the call of Jesus both to love and to justice...
...This tendency to lose teachers to non-academic duties is built into the public school system...
...That's a question social reformers seldom consider when they ask public schools to install expensive programs aimed at reshaping attitudes...
...T HE CONCEPT of CBD is very new...
...But Sharp and the bishops would seem to disagree on a key point...
Vol. 111 • April 1984 • No. 8
