Covering Philosophical Topics in Education, Music and Technology by Stephen T. McClard, author of the book, The Superior Educator, A Calm and Assertive Approach to Classroom Management and Large Group Motivation.
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Living life well requires a mastery of words and actions. Finding the good in all situations demands the proper application of meaning to form correct choices. Like magic incantations acting on the experiences of awareness, words have the power to transform the intellect in specific directions along the various paths of life. Focusing the lens of the mind then defines the path that is traveled. Clarity of thought can direct the mind toward the good of life if intellect guides emotion. However, if emotion guides intellect, the path of life will only bring clarity through the lessons of uncomfortable experience.
Duplicity
Duplicity is a state of awareness representing contradictory thoughts and actions. Like two out of tune notes, duplicitous thoughts and actions resonate with disharmony to the intellect. Seeking the good in any situation requires harmony between the two. Guiding the emotions from the intellect represents the first step of tuning the mind to harmony and equilibrium. Finding the good in life is impenetrable apart from the proper use of the intellect.
Impenetrability
Impenetrability is the state of being whereby two things cannot occupy the same space. Emotion will always move past the space in the mind occupied by the intellect. Since two objects cannot occupy the same space, the stronger of the two will move the weaker. Seeking the good in any situation requires strength of intellect. The second step to finding harmony and equilibrium in the mind requires the use of intellect as the dominating force for guiding choice. When emotion obediently serves intellect, equanimity follows.
Equanimity
Equanimity is a state of mental and emotional steadiness arising from deep awareness. A constant state of equanimity is impossible if the five senses dictate emotion. To maintain equanimity is to guide action by intellect through the filter of mindfulness of purpose.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a calm awareness and mastery of emotion. To be mindful is to master intentions of choice in all moments of life.
Intention
Intention is the first leg of a well traveled journey. The good of life can arise from correct intention if the disharmony caused by duplicity is eliminated by the intellect. This journey demands only one true intention from us along the path. If we wish the good of life as a reward for our efforts, then two contradictory goals are selfishly desired. If we pursue the good of life to avoid punishment, duplicity has once again revealed our selfish intention. True intention, however, only comes by desiring the source of good in life from the perspective of humility.
Humility
Humility seeks the good as its own reward. The goodness of God is the peace that comes from choosing His free gift of Grace.
All educators, at one time or another, will seek wisdom that is beyond their experience. Dealing with unruly students, not to mention the occasional administrator, can be a trying time for young and veteran alike. Choosing your source of wisdom can be as simple as prayer or as enlightening as digesting the latest educational materials from the scholarly gurus of our day. The latest and greatest in educational materials, however, pale in comparison to the masters of old. Aristotle, Socrates, Confucius and so many others have laid the foundations for our current view on life, the universe and everything. Despite the answer being 42 to some, the questions are endless when it comes to living life well.
Now that I have your attention firmly focused, consider one of the oldest self-help books known to man. You may be thinking that I am gearing you up to read a few Bible passages, but you would be wrong. Although the Bible is in a league all to itself, my aim in this article is to give you a glimpse of a different 4000-year-old self-help book that finds its origin in Egypt.
Isesi was the King in the Egyptian Fifth Dynasty (ca. 2414 BC). Isesi had a Vizier (advisor/minister) named Ptah Hotep (meaning: Pillar of Stability – Peace and Satisfaction). The Maximus of Ptahhotep was an ancient literary masterpiece and self-help guide for the people of Egypt. As you read this document, you quickly realize the immensity of wisdom that is contained in very short and concise nuggets of knowledge. This work covers topics from restraining anger to dealing with the passions of youth. From the standpoint of an educator, wisdom of this degree is gold plated and rock solid for dealing with students and coworkers alike.
Take these passages as a small sampling:
“Teach others to render homage to a great man. If you gather the crop for him among men, cause it to return fully to its owner, at whose hands is your subsistence. But the gift of affection is worth more than the provisions with which your back is covered. For that which the great man receives from you will enable your house to live, without speaking of the maintenance you enjoy, which you desire to preserve; it is thereby that he extends a beneficent hand, and that in your home good things are added to good things. Let your love pass into the heart of those who love you; cause those about you to be loving and obedient.”
How many pages could be filled in this article to illustrate just a tiny fraction, a mere glimmer off the edge, of this one single passage? The writer of this passage starts by instructing us to teach others respect through example. If you work at a job you enjoy, it is only right that you should do your best to return your salary with valuable work and effort. The affection you show to your place of employment will guarantee that your back is covered when you make mistakes. By passing your love for others forward, you teach others to do the same. That is amazing wisdom when you consider that your employers are your students!
"Be not arrogant because of that which you know; deal with the ignorant as with the learned; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire. But good words are more difficult to find than the emerald, for it is by slaves that that is discovered among the rocks of pegmatite."
Arrogance is a hard quality to escape. If you are able to restrain your own arrogance, you find it ten fold in another. How do we effectually deal with the arrogance of our students according to wisdom and understanding? The answer according to Ptah Hotep is obvious: Treat all men as equals. Why? Because the barrier to what we are trying to convey as educators is not within the child but within the way the child is treated; within the very words we use. Rich and poor alike can attain the perfection that education offers if what is offered is truth—like an emerald hidden in a rough place.
"If you find a disputant while he is hot, and if he is superior to you in ability, lower the hands, bend the back, do not get into a passion with him. As he will not let you destroy his words, it is utterly wrong to interrupt him; that proclaims that you are incapable of keeping yourself calm, when you are contradicted. If then you have to do with a disputant while he is hot, imitate one who does not stir. You have the advantage over him if you keep silence when he is uttering evil words. "The better of the two is he who is impassive," say the bystanders, and you are right in the opinion of the great."
Students and coworkers will often have disputes. Dealing with a ‘hothead’ is never easy, especially if they wrap their arguments in clever language. The best way is the middle way in philosophy. According to Aristotle, the Golden Mean is the answer. Choosing the middle way is avoiding extremes—not anger and not cowardice. According to the passage above, you should listen more than you speak. The other person may be telling you something you need to understand. If you argue, “he will not let you destroy his words.” Don’t interrupt. The better of the two is the one that is impassive (not susceptible to pain-equanimity). According to Verbal Judo, by George Thompson, remove bias from your persona.
In my book, The Superior Educator, I relate this idea in the form of the calm and assertive demeanor. The calm and assertive persona removes the barrier in the middle. George Thompson says, “Think for the other person in the manner in which they should be thinking for themselves.” When you remove your own bias, condescension, anger and prejudice, you open the door for dialog to take place. Solving such problems can lead to humility when a student or coworker is treated with honor and respect.
As you consider what has been said in this article, realize that the work of becoming a great educator is locked within improving one person at a time. The work of inspiring the mind and producing the next great generation of thinkers is not that far removed from this ancient document of Egyptian culture. It’s locked within the potential of valuing the humanity of everyone we influence without forgetting the true source of Good in the world. Evil cannot prevail against the mercy of truth.
I’ll leave you with one more passage and let you figure out the rest.
“Apply yourself while you speak; speak only of perfect things; and let the great who shall hear you say: "Twice good is that which issues from his mouth!"
“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life to carry out; a concrete assignment which demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as his specific opportunity to implement it.” Victor Frankl
Everyone, no matter their lot in life, will act a part in the play called life. When viewed against the vastness of space and time, our lives are but grains of sand on an infinite stage. Some lives in this performance are seemingly insignificant while others play leading roles. The factors that determine our lot in life are guided by our views of truth and dictated by our larger view of the production for which we are cast.
Contained within every soul and locked within every human experience, truth abounds yet hides itself, patiently waiting to be found in its correct form and on its own terms. Truth, after all, is the ultimate end pursuit of all conscious efforts and the motivation for our movement forward in time. Housed in this tiny piece of real estate, we search, eking out our existence, patiently waiting for tiny moments of discovery that can fill our void and expand our view of the universe.
The unsatisfied thirst to understand and know truth is what plagues our existence. Yet, our finite existence contains potential for an infinitely marvelous array of possibilities when shadows of truth are humbly understood and applied to our efforts and struggles. Sadly, our truths are but the mere edges of ultimate universal truths that are waiting to be discovered.
Found within our souls and within our intellect, we hold the capacity to know and understand. We lack only the proper insights and connections for truth to be realized fully in our lives. As we seek to discover new understanding, truth observes our progress and waits. Eons of time have passed since truth began its work, anticipating moments in time to reveal its purpose and expand our dimly lit view.
Nations struggle and wars rage, all in the name of truth. Contradictions to truth abound, yet truth remains constant, shining amid our turmoil and strife. We rage and fight to proclaim our knowledge of truth, yet truth patiently waits to reveal its purpose. We arrogantly boast that we possess truth, yet truth patiently waits for us to humble our souls.
Truth cannot be contained by a mere fleshly vessel. Knowing this is our first step to know more of what the immutable laws of truth offer. Truth cannot allow itself to be used for false purposes. Knowing this is our second step to understanding our reality and allowing truth to fill our need. Truth will not be used to manipulate or alter what is true. Knowing this allows us to humbly accept what truth sets out to accomplish. Truth patiently waits.
Our ways are not yet the ways of truth. Our thoughts are not yet the thoughts of truth. Our sense of justice is but a glimpse of what truth demands. The edges of truth are barely visible when seen through our dimly lit reality. We can be assured in our pursuit of truth if we will only humble our thoughts and patiently seek the glories of what truth will bring to our souls.
Truth moves about, quietly whispering in the ears of those who will listen. It speaks throughout the ages of what is right and good and pure. It gives a voice to the humble philosopher and shines a light for the seekers of knowledge. Passed along from generation to generation, its illuminations multiply. Called by many names, it quietly proclaims its wisdom, allowing us to grow in our understanding and control.
Truth asks only one thing of us: to humbly set our minds in the midst of knowledge and toward the pursuit of bettering others and ourselves. Truth patiently waits for us to seek and discover the rewards it has waiting for a generation that will plum the depths of its boundless and abundant seeds of potential.
Truth is the pursuit, but meaning is the reward. The rewards of meaning and the pursuit of life are the answer to the ageless questions that have haunted man since truth first began its work; who am I and what is my purpose? Before truth fully answers these questions in your heart, it has one expectation.
As you gasp your last breath of life, what will run through your mind? What thoughts will you have about your life and the purpose for which you were formed? The two questions truth will answer in our lives--who am I and what is my purpose?--will become startlingly clear to you at this moment, the final humbling moment of physical life. As you have your last thought, this will be the moment at which you realize the impact you had on others, the moment when you realize that you either lived your purpose on this earth or you missed your purpose completely.
Until this moment, truth hesitates to answer our questions. It waits patiently, eagerly, hoping it can bring the answers to light before our light fades and our eyes close for the last time. For a select few mortal souls, the seekers of knowledge, the meaning to these two questions will be answered before this moment arrives. Truth will gladly answer these questions but has an expectation which is hidden in an ancient riddle, the parts of which have been scattered in full view since truth first began its work.
The first part of the riddle is this: no matter where we go, there we will be, and until we realize that we can only be where we go, we will only be where we are. Going is the only way to travel along the path of truth. Just as the apprentice must stay with his master, truth will accept no less than this from us. We realize at this moment that answering the riddle starts with the journey.
The journey with truth starts with the first step and is the second part of the riddle. The first step in the journey is the most important step and cannot be taken in the wrong direction. It is at this point that most souls will stumble and lose their way along the true path. Without taking the proper steps in the proper directions, truth will continue without its apprentice. As sojourners with truth, we are bound to the path of truth and thus begin our journey in life.
Our journey begins when we enter through the gate of life at birth and lasts until we finally move through the portal of death. It is between these moments that truth forges our destiny in the crucible of life. It is at this moment that truth decides our fate, the one purpose that we were formed from nothing to accomplish. What happens between these two moments, birth and death, will decide our fate. Truth, with its friend fate, decides our future destiny and dictates our purpose as we walk the path of life. Discovering purpose in life starts with the first step and ends with the last. Where we go, there we are, together with truth, stepping forward toward our destiny.
What, then, does truth require of the knowledge seeker along the journey? To discover the answer to this question, we must first learn humility. Truth will not reveal itself until we are humble before it. This may happen along the path or will finally happen when we exit this life through the portal of death. We are powerless against the eventuality of humility, so pushing ourselves beyond self will be the first step to understanding what truth requires of us.
To gain humility, we realize that our soul is unique to the purpose for which it was created. We choose our path through free will, and the choices we make along the way define who we are and will further define the unique steps of others. The value we see in others will be reflected in the value we place on ourselves. Free will is, therefore, the determining factor in our choice to be humble or to be selfish and self-centered. Free will can lead us away from the self-deception that separates us from truth, or it will ultimately lead us away from the true path. We are free to travel the paths of truth when our self-will is removed and we humble ourselves by seeking the good of the many.
Truth is simply the destination of a random and unpredictable journey. As our soul walks to the grave, the steps taken along the way are dictated by free will. Whether we seek evil or good, all paths end at truth. For the seeker of knowledge, reward is gained and continues beyond the grave. For the seeker of self, reward is pursued but never gained, ending at the grave.
This life is fleeting. At our essence, we are souls trapped in a decaying corpse, a corpse moving about in time. Will the precious time we have on this earth be lived for our own selfish ends, or will we take each step forward for the betterment of others? Discovering our purpose for this movement in time is then reduced to these two choices and will define who we are when the end finally comes. No matter where we go, there we will be, and until we realize that we can only be where we go, we will only be where we are.
Article originally written in July 2009 by Stephen McClard- Revised 2010
I am noticing that my essay on truth has been plagiarized many times by various individuals across the internet. I wrote this essay from the heart and it is a sad testament to the pride that my article stands against. I really don't mind if people reproduce my work, but please, give credit where credit is due. Otherwise, you represent everything this essay stands against.
This is the only poetry I have ever written. I woke one morning with this entire poem in my mind. If you have ever awakened from a dream with a song in your mind that you have never heard, you will relate to this. As quickly as I could, I moved from bed to my computer and typed what I had been running through my mind in the dream. Every time I read this poem, I am shocked with its meter and meaning. In a future Article, I will define what this means poem says to me personally.
Complete Article List - Stephen T. McClard My sister-in-law, Tracy McClard, testifies before the House Committee on Education and Labor on April 21st, 2010.
Transcript of the Testimony
Good Morning, Chairman Miller, Ranking Member Kline, and members of the House Education and Labor Committee. Thank you for having me here to testify today on the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) and share my story.
My name is Tracy McClard and I live in Jackson, MO. In 2008, I lost my barely 17 year old son, Jonathan, in Missouri’s criminal justice system.
Background and Context:
Before I begin telling my family’s experience with having our son in the adult criminal justice system, I would like to give you some data to help put our story into context. Each year, an estimated 200,000 youth go into the adult criminal court and every day 10,000 kids under the age of 18 are incarcerated in adult jails and prisons.
These policies exist even though research shows that prosecuting children as adults causes harm to these youth and does not increase public safety. Reports from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s non-federal Task Force on Community Preventive Services, show that prosecuting youth as adults actually increases crime. The CDC report found that youth involved in the adult system are 34% more likely to commit crimes than children who have done similar crimes, but remain in the juvenile justice system. The OJJDP report found that prosecuting youth as adults increases the chances of a youth re-offending and recommended decreasing the number of youth in the adult criminal justice system.
Research also shows that youth in adult jails face unbelievable conditions. First, these youth are at great risk of physical and sexual assault. The National Prison Rape Elimination Commission recently found that “more than any other group of incarcerated persons, youth incarcerated with adults are probably at the highest risk for sexual abuse” and said youth be housed separately from adults. Second, youth in jails typically do not have access to things like education, mental health programs, or substance abuse treatment, especially when compared to kids in juvenile facilities. Finally, and as my family tragically knows too well, youth in adult jails are at a high risk of suicide - youth in adult jails are 36 times more likely to complete suicide in an adult jail than youth juvenile detention facilities.
Jonathan’s Story:
In July 2007, my son Jonathan, who was 16 years old at the time, made an extremely poor error in judgment. That morning Jonathan’s ex-girlfriend called to tell him that she was pregnant with Jonathan’s baby, but that her new boyfriend was abusive and was going to force her to inject cocaine and kill the baby. She also told him she was going to commit suicide before the new boyfriend could do this. Under the influence of drugs, and in what he thought was an attempt to save two lives, Jonathan shot the boyfriend, who survived, with the intent to scare him into leaving the ex-girlfriend alone. Thinking the police would understand why he did what he did and not understanding the gravity of his actions, Jonathan immediately turned himself in. While I believed that Jonathan needed to be held accountable for his actions as well as pay retribution, I never would have imagined the conditions he would face in the adult criminal justice system that ultimately took his life.
Our ordeal began with Jonathan being taken to an adolescent psychiatric hospital in St. Louis, MO within two hours of his arrest due to shock and suicidal thoughts in the aftermath of the event. The charge nurse there said that Jonathan was very confused and afraid. He remained in that facility for two weeks and was then ultimately transferred to the Cape Girardeau Juvenile Detention Center to be closer to home.
While in the psychiatric hospital, Jonathan was prescribed an extremely high amount of anti-psychotic medication. When he was transferred back to the juvenile facilities we, as his parents, had no control over Jonathan’s medication or the dosage. It took several weeks for his body to adjust and during this time he had recurring nightmares about the loss of his baby and hallucinations of blood running down the walls. Eventually his body adjusted to the medication. In the juvenile detention center, Jonathan was allowed to complete homework from school and stay caught up. Jonathan remained in the Cape Girardeau County Juvenile Detention Center until September 6, 2007.
On that day, Jonathan had a certification hearing where he was transferred to the adult system. At the conclusion of the hearing he was immediately placed in the Cape Girardeau County Jail with adults in Jackson, MO. He was a 140 lb., slight built, 16 year old child among much older, bigger men. As soon as he arrived, all the medication he was forced to take earlier was abruptly stopped due to the jail’s anti-narcotics policies, causing intense withdrawal symptoms, including shaking, another bout of hallucinations and severe depression. There was no medical care, medication or concern on the part of the jail’s staff as Jonathan was forced to suffer these withdrawal symptoms.
At the jail, the ability for Jonathan to continue his education was also put on hold. Because he was now in the adult system, his school was no longer required to send homework and he was officially dropped from their roster. This was really difficult for Jonathan to deal with as he loved school, learning, reading and research. He had a lot of friends, made good grades and his teachers really enjoyed having him in class. He was working toward scholarships and had plans to become a doctor or psychiatrist. In the weeks waiting for his certification hearing, he mentioned several times how worried he was about his education. The night before the hearing he said, “I wonder if my teachers know I have to go to jail tomorrow and I can’t be in school anymore. My life is over.”
In order to continue with his education, Jonathan tried to work on a GED book, but he told me that it was too noisy in the jail and nobody was there to help or support him. He ended up staring
at the TV every day and at night he could not sleep as the lights were kept on and the adult inmates stayed up. He waited to use the restroom and take a shower in the mid-morning hours when the other inmates were sleeping to avoid being assaulted. Jonathan spent approximately two weeks in the Cape Girardeau County Jail and due to a change in venue was then transferred to the Mississippi County Jail in Charleston, MO.
I knew the transfer was coming, I just didn’t know when. Due to security protocol, families are not allowed to know when loved ones are being moved. Before Jonathan was transferred, I called the Mississippi County Jail to speak to the supervisor about his safety. The supervisor led me to believe he was very concerned about having someone so young in his jail, that he would be very careful about which pod he chose to place Jonathan, and that other inmates had been singled out to watch over him. I was told that the officers would keep an eye out for him and he would be fine.
Jonathan was transferred on a Thursday. We were allowed only one 15 minute visit a week, either on Monday or Thursday between one and four o’clock. My husband and I took time away from our jobs each week to visit. We visited through glass by talking on a phone. Since Jonathan was moved on Thursday, the following Monday was our first opportunity to see him.
As Jonathan approached his side of the glass, my husband and I were shocked by what we saw. Jonathan had cuts and bruises all over his face, ears, and head. His hair was shaved off and he had a tattoo under his eye. He was told by the other inmates in the facility he needed the tattoo to survive. I immediately broke down and wept because I was utterly powerless to keep him safe. As I questioned him about what happened, I learned that he was attacked the night he arrived there. He said there was a meth lab in the jail and the person who attacked him was someone he shared a cell with and who was coming down off of meth. This person took Jonathan’s shirt and pulled it over his head so he couldn’t see and so his arms were trapped. Jonathan kept trying to reassure me that he would be okay and this was his fault because he’d gotten himself into this nightmare. We both knew he wouldn’t be okay.
Following the extremely short visit, Jonathan was led back into the madhouse and my husband and I sought out the supervisor that I had spoken with on the phone. When we asked about the events of the fight and Jonathan’s promised safety a very unconcerned supervisor told us, “Things like this happen! What do you expect? We don’t tolerate fighting of any sort so if Jonathan participates in it again he’ll be placed in solitary confinement. I don’t care what the circumstances are.”
On our next visit a week later, Jonathan was visibly shaken. He said, “Mom this place is so scary.” I asked what happened. He described an incident that happened that week of a new inmate coming in. He said when this man was brought in several inmates grabbed him and dragged him to the back. He said, “Mom, I could hear him screaming and screaming and nobody did anything! When they brought him back out I couldn’t recognize him because he was so bloody and beat up and he got sent to solitary, but nobody else got into trouble.”
For the next several visits, Jonathan always had stories to tell about violent things that happened that week and comments he was hearing from inmates who had been to prison about how to
survive if he had to go to prison. He was constantly trying to strengthen his body to survive present and future attacks. He talked about how he was told he needed to be in a gang, which he didn’t want to join, to survive. At this point, he was trying to decide between making education a priority and dealing with the bullying and beating that came with studying for the GED or if he should forget his education so he could join a gang and be safer. Jonathan remained in the Mississippi County Jail until his sentencing hearing on November 13, 2007.
Missouri has a blended sentencing option in place called the Missouri Dual Jurisdiction Program, which is run by the Missouri Department of Youth Services (DYS) and serves youth up to age 21 who have been certified as adults. Youth sentenced to this program are placed in a secure facility near St. Louis and are allowed to live in dorm style rooms, wear their own clothes, and have their own possessions from home.
They also receive their high school diploma or GED, can take college classes, and have extensive individual and group counseling geared toward substance abuse, positive choices, victim empathy and restoration and other issues geared toward this specific population. Families are also encouraged to visit and remain involved. To be allowed into this program, a youth is interviewed by the DYS and a recommendation is given to the judge for acceptance or rejection. If accepted, the adult sentence is suspended while the youth receives intensive counseling and education. At the age of 21, another hearing is scheduled to decide if the youth can go home on probation or if the youth must serve the rest of the sentence in the adult prison. The decision for initial placement and adult placement is ultimately up to the judge.
Jonathan was interviewed for this program and was highly recommended. A representative from the DYS came to his sentencing hearing (which is unusual) to testify about the huge possibility for success Jonathan possessed. Namely, Jonathan had a close, supportive, extended family, was a good student in school, was well liked by peers, grew up in church and was involved in the youth group, and had goals and plans for his future. Although the DYS person who interviewed Jonathan thought Jonathan would be a good candidate for the program, the DYS worker also said that the judges in our court district typically were difficult to work with and wished Jonathan’s case was in a different district. Tragically, the judge in Jonathan’s case refused to listen to this recommendation.
Jonathan left the jail two days later and was placed in several other facilities. On December 13th, Jonathan took his GED test and passed with a 99th percentile in the nation. On January 4th, three days after his 17th birthday he was found hanging in his cell. A few days before, he had learned that he would be going back to Mississippi County to the prison in Charleston, which was the same town where he had lived and witnessed horrible experiences while in the jail.
While in jail, Jonathan lost everything. He lost his freedom, his friends, his safety, his privacy, his sanity, his childhood, skateboarding, swimming, his girlfriend, summer vacation, scholarships, college, dreams, Six Flags, marriages, births, deaths, family vacations, Christmas, Thanksgiving, time with his brother and sister (who now have tattoos in his honor and named their children after him), time with a close extended family and cousins who have always been a huge part of his life, his whole entire future and his life.
Our family also suffered while Jonathan suffered and we nearly lost everything as well. Jonathan’s older brother, Charles, had recently moved out on his own, but began experiencing panic attacks and seizures due to extreme stress and worry over Jonathan and was forced to move back home. Shortly after Jonathan died, Charles attempted suicide. A few weeks before Jonathan’s death, my husband also attempted suicide and was hospitalized. Jonathan’s older sister, Suzanne, who is in the Army National Guard, was scheduled to deploy a few days after Jonathan’s death and also ended up in the hospital suffering from panic attacks.
Recommendations and Conclusion:
Jonathan’s experience taught me that no child should be placed with adults no matter what, because when children are put in with adults they die - physically or mentally. I also believe that all kids deserve a second chance. As a parent, one of the most frustrating things for me was that the court, the judges, and the prosecutors didn’t know my son - they hadn’t raised him like I had; they didn’t even know him as a person - but they weren’t willing to give him the second chance they might have given to their own kids if they were in the same situation. Finally, if the goal of the juvenile and criminal justice system is to keep our communities safe, how safe can our communities be if a kid in Jonathan’s position would have spent five, ten, fifteen or more years in the conditions Jonathan faced and with the role models he had?
In terms of JJDPA reauthorization, I have two main recommendations for the Committee. First, the current JJDPA law has two core requirements - jail removal and sight and sound separation - that recognize the dangers of keeping youth out of adult jails and out of contact with adults in these facilities. However, right now these two requirements only apply to youth who are under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Once a youth is charged as an adult, these protections no longer apply and, like Jonathan, kids can be placed in the same cell as adults. I hope the Committee can extend the jail removal and sight and sound protections to all youth under 18, no matter what court they are tried in. The alternative is just too dangerous for our youth and our communities.
Second, I hope that the JJDPA will continue to allow States to have the option to let youth who are convicted in adult court to serve their sentence in juvenile facilities rather than adult prison. It is my understanding that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) recently stopped penalizing States that were allowing youth to serve their time in juvenile facilities and I would like for the Committee to make sure this decision is permanent.
Thank you again for having me here to testify and for giving me the chance to share my story, my family’s story, and Jonathan’s story with you today.
Emily Brooker, a former Missouri State University student, sued the university in 2006 for trying to force her into signing a gay rights advocacy statement. Brooker made the claim that the university School of Social Work had used coercion and intimidation to force her into an ideology that was contrary to her beliefs.
In the end, the university took the correct actions to preserve freedom of expression and personal liberties. Brooker's actions were critical in making this a reality. In an earlier article, I outlined the framework that an educator must follow within the American marketplace of ideas. In this article, I said the following:
"An important part of our democracy includes the concepts of free discourse and freedom of expression. These two ideas are inexorably tied to our framework of what it means to be an educated citizen. Free access to thought is what defines us as individuals living in a free land. Limiting this access can only weaken our educational institutions."
While the behavior of the university Social Work Department was detestable, it reveals the reality of the important struggle that we must all participate in to preserve liberty and freedom for the next generation of Americans. Emily Brooker is an amazing example of how one person can make a difference in the lives of others. In my estimation, she is a shining testament to the truth of what I wrote about in a previous article, The Seeds of Education-Truth.
This nation was founded on the belief that government is of the people, by the people and for the people. Our foundation as a nation can only be preserved when we respect the liberties and unique beliefs of all individuals. It is also important to understand that the views of the professors are equally protected under the law. Forcing those beliefs on others, however, is unacceptable in a free democracy. Truth is free, but preserving truth comes with the responsibility to value and respect the expression of all points of view equally, separated from the threat of coercion and intimidation.
In November of 1919, five defendants were convicted of violating the Espionage Act of 1917. As America was in the thick of a military campaign with Germany, these five men dropped anti-war leaflets out the window of a building in New York. They were charged with disseminating words and ideas that were considered unlawful to write, speak or otherwise publish. They quickly received a twenty-year prison sentence.
In a later ruling by the Supreme Court, the sentence was upheld by a 7-2 vote. One of the two dissenting votes came from Oliver Wendell Holmes. Holmes noted the following in his decision:
"The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas...that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution. It is an experiment, as all life is an experiment. Every year if not every day we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon imperfect knowledge. While that experiment is part of our system I think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death, unless they so imminently threaten immediate interference with the lawful and pressing purposes of the law that an immediate check is required to save the country.”
With these words, Oliver Wendell Holmes planted the idea of America as a marketplace of ideas and further instilled our notion of what it means to guarantee freedom of speech. In society and in education, this idea gives us a framework for the dissemination of truth. For this, we all owe this pioneer of thought a debt of gratitude.
An important part of our democracy includes the concepts of free discourse and freedom of expression. These two ideas are inexorably tied to our framework of what it means to be an educated citizen. Our free access to thought is what defines us as individuals living in a free land. Limiting this access can only weaken our educational institutions.
We can also thank Holmes for this famous quote: “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” This is a metaphorical reference to hypertrophy (hī-ˈpər-trə-fē), or stretching muscle to gain size and strength. Yet again, Holmes gives us a clue where educators stand in the grand scheme of the marketplace of ideas.
For the last few years, education has moved from being a free market of ideas to a factory-floor of assembly line learning. Our mad dash to meet the standard of state testing has essentially placed a muzzle on the mouths of great educators and sterilized uniquely crafted curricula. The well-intentioned mandates of law makers have stretched teachers thin. Having the autonomy to transfer unique and sticky thoughts to stretch the minds of children is becoming increasingly difficult, sucking the life and vitality from the average classroom educator.
This current era of mandated demands in education is creating a marketplace that serves a narrow band of educational outcomes. It forces curriculum into a complicated puzzle box that services a test rather than exciting originality and inspiring thought. This is a sad state of affairs given that we live in an age of unlimited access to information and ideas; it is even sadder when you consider the off-the-shelf tracking technology that could easily provide the data that we currently seek through state testing.
So what is the answer? Is there any hope? I say yes! I say that we are uniquely positioned to build the next revision in education. We have the potential, through technology, to bring about a new revolution in learning. Seizing this opportunity now has the potential to revitalize both the marketplace of ideas and the marketplace in our economy.
In the next era of education, technology has the potential to merge the ideals of state-mandated testing and the needed freedom and autonomy that educators require to do their jobs. Releasing a teacher to do the job of educating will be the greatest gift that technology has ever provided our world. Using technology to its potential in the classroom may one day bring out the best in the marketplace of ideas.
I will leave you with this thought:
“It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”
-Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
References for this article come from the great and unlimited source of knowledge, Wikipedia.
