The Linear Canvas

George Bush stopped in the Toledo area yesterday and was enthusiastically endorsed according to the local paper, by high schools students. My first thought was what my middle school principle said to us one day when he was substituting for our teacher. He said, “Someone told me that eighth graders don’t have any opinion. What do you think about that?” Out of the thirty kids in that class, not a hand went up. I thought, he’s wrong, I have an opinion. If I had just said that, that would’ve have been enough. But I didn’t.

A few years later, the local newspaper reported on a school walkout that was organized “by students”. The story went that all students walked out of class in the morning and marched about three miles to the proposed site of the new school in angry protest over the failure of the latest bond issue to build the school. Not many of those kids were probably even aware of why they had just walked out of school, other than to get the rest of the day off. There is no doubt that the walkout was orchestrated by the adult teachers and administrators and carried out by the students that were most favored by them. If the students had actually organized the walkout, there would’ve been tear gas all over the place.
I’m sure there are some high school students that have an opinion, but the vast majority are still trying to form one. That is not an insult. We all go through it. Most kids just mimic the opinions of those around them that they admire or fear. If you can make the point that your politics have gone from liberal during college to conservative in adult life, no doubt you understand. Giving high school kids credit for endorsing a liar like George Bush says very little for a childs ability to understand the difference between fact and fiction and was more a product of celebrity worship. I was a supporter of Richard Nixon and considered myself a future Republican until about 1974 (Watergate). Even I would have been thrilled to meet George Bush when I was fifteen. But I probably would’ve skipped meeting George if Britany Spears had showed up.