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Saturday, September 6, 2014

The Courage of Their Convictions by teacherken

The Courage of Their Convictions:






is the title of this book by Peter Irons.
One of those featured in the book was a woman who as a girl - along with her brother - refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  They were both Jehovah's Witnesses.  They were both expelled, and the Supreme Court, in 1940, upheld their expulsion in Minersville v Gobitis by an 8-1 vote, the sole dissent by Harlan Fisk Stone.
Three years later a somewhat different court ruled 6-3 in favor of another Jehovah;s Witness in West Virginia v Barnette, by a court whose chief Justice was Harlan Fisk Stone.  That decision is why to this day in theory students cannot be compelled to participate in the Pledge ceremony - even requiring them to stand is a violation of what Robert Jackson laid down in his opinion.
The relevance of this is again upon us, and we are reminded when we read Lillian Gobitas Klose, 90, Dies; Stood Against Mandatory Pledgeamong the obituaries in The New York Times.
As we read in the obituary,
Lillian Gobitas’s family belonged to the Jehovah’s Witnesses and heeded a leader’s call to refuse to recite the pledge in compliance with biblical commands against idolatry. On Oct. 22, 1935, Lillian’s brother William Gobitas, a fifth grader, refused to say the pledge at his public school in Minersville, Pa. The next day, Lillian did the same thing. The town school board responded by passing a resolution calling refusal to recite the pledge an act of insubordination. It then expelled the Gobitas children.
Please keep reading.
For 12-year-old Lillian, the sting from her act of conscience — which she said was entirely 


Krugman on "The Medicare Miracle"
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Ferguson - it is really about WHITE rage
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AUG 30

Kristof: "When Whites Just Don’t Get It"
The net worth of the average black household in the United States is $6,314, compared with $110,500 for the average white household, according to 2011 census data. The gap has worsened in the last decade, and the United States now has a greater wealth gap by race than South Africa did during apartheid. (Whites in America on average own almost 18 times as much as blacks; in South Africa in 1970, th
Yet again a Saturday morning teaching reflection
Students began classes on Wednesday, so I am getting back into the rhythm that has been so much of a part of my life for the past two decades or so.  And is my wont I take some time on a Saturday morning before returning to the tasks associated with being a high school social studies teacher to reflect upon my teaching life.  There have always been at least a few people here who are interested in