Finding Community
From those in-town or the hinterlands; wealthy, middle class, or poor; white and non-white; able and disabled––all were welcome. Recall the words of Bankei, #132 in this Substack (5/5/26), the Japanese abbott, who told his students who complained about him keeping one of them in the class who stole: “Who will teach him if I do not? I am going to keep him even if all the rest of you leave.”
Public education. We the people. It’s us, no other. That’s the America I grew up in and the America I had in my classroom for forty years beginning in the early 60s. I wish it had been true for all Americans, but in that time at least the country appeared to be moving toward greater equality. At present, we are facing serious setbacks.
We need to get back on that path.
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forward” (Kierkegaard)
I write to bring ideas and methods from my life as a teacher in the latter half of the 20th century to help teachers and the public to “live forward” in this century. My latest book, Teacher in the Rye: Doing It My Way is available on Amazon. And I welcome comments here on my Blog or by email at frankthoms3@gmail.com.
