By Gene Daily
Over the course of the last few days, there have been many reports of teachers’ political bias in the classroom. Some may have had differing experiences than I; but in my youth, I experienced much the same from one teacher with a very different outcome.
What I am about to relate is a story from the 60′s, in a mountain mining town out west. Mining towns in American history have been known to be fairly rough towns, inhabited by men who were no strangers to drinks and fights. It was during a time in history when there was actually a written codified law stating that two men of roughly equal physical size and strength could mutually agree to combat; and as long as the peace of no other citizen was disturbed, their mutual combat was legal. This actually made for a rather peaceful society, as the worst thing you could be called in our town was a coward. So if you pushed something too far and were physically challenged to back it up and then refused to fight, you were labeled a coward and ignored or worse from that time on. I learned early, shall we say, to be a diplomatic conversationalist whenever possible. It is under these circumstances I relate the story.
During my sophomore year in high school, my history teacher was a huge supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In fact, my family were even supporters of him. I, however, took exception to the teachers’ constant emphasis of the wonderful programs his administration had used to revive the US economy during the 30′s. Being an avid reader of history, I learned that some programs such as the WPA had actually been started in Germany before they were used in the USA. This had helped to restart the German economy after it had been hit so hard under the Weimar Republic years. I had also learned that during the building of the Rockefeller Center in New York City, a mural had been included showing Mussolini courageously leading his people forward. I questioned the closeness of the leaders of that time and their common approach to problems. I also noted the anti-Jewish sentiment here in the USA at the time and the turning away of large numbers of Jews entering the USA prior to and during the War.
This ignited the history teacher as a match to tinder. After reading my paper, he came toward me in a menacing manner. He began to berate me. I simply told him that the assignment had been to compare historical figures of our choice and to relate our feelings and questions regarding them. He exploded and ask me if I had paid any attention at all to his lectures regarding FDR and all the “good” he had done for the country. I, as softly as I could, explained that while I recognize all the adulation many people had for FDR, I did not regard him as perfect. He then went somewhat mad and began screaming insults