Soviet Day
Left of that flag was displayed ’Songs for the Young Pioneer to Learn.’ To the right, a compilation of ‘Student Honors’ with hammers, sickles, and ribbons bordering photos of their exemplary work. Above in large black letters our motto: Courage, Faithfulness, and Love. On the shelf below, a diorama in a cardboard box that depicted Nikita Khrushchev in an oversized arctic fur coat.
On the day, students filed into the room as ‘Young Pioneers’ in white shirts and blouses and dark blue pants and skirts, sporting the infamous red scarfs around their necks. They sat at desks in pairs, were granted permission to speak by ‘Comrade Teacher’ (one of their classmates) only after raising their right hand, elbow on the desk. They stood when answering questions and sat down when Comrade Teacher gave permission.
To deepen our immersion, students created a mimeograph newspaper, Iskra (‘the Spark,’ named after Lenin’s infamous paper), Volume XLIV, No. 1––forty-four years after the Russian Revolution. Its red cover had a hammer and sickle and motto: ‘All the News That’s Red We Print.” The editorial staff (with my help) wrote:
The Time Has Come
Now is the time for you, the oppressed victims of the American Grande Bourgeoisie, to arise and crush the Capitalists with the omnipotent implements of Communism: atheism and materialism. With these impressive ideas in mind, we, the representatives of the indomitable Communist regime, shall inspire the slowly deteriorating citizens of America into the insurrection against the purely malignant ideas of the Grande Bourgeoisie…
Iskra is a privilege. We cherish it.
(I recount the day and events that followed in my memoir Teacher in the Rye: Doing It My Way, chapter 3.)
From what I’ve shared, can you imagine being in that class and transported into another culture, in particular, another way of attending school. I stood by as an observer taking photos with my Miranda 35 mm camera, to be developed at home.
Unless we are willing to experience others from their point of view, we may never come to know who they are, why they are, and what they value. For me, I discovered early on when studying other cultures––or being in another country––by standing on a bridge I can see without judging and take in and process what I’m seeing for what it is.
I loved that day and remember it as if it were yesterday. Earlier in that year, for another class I arranged an afternoon for a South American festival, not as extensive but immersive to allow my students to feel and learn its culture. From my first day in my first classroom, I wanted to be lively, active, and create memories. Perhaps not every day in the 180 that made up the school year, but my intention was always there.
I wrote Teacher in the Rye: Doing It My Way to encourage teachers to immerse themselves into their classrooms and for administrators, parents, and the public to support them in their efforts to be the teachers our children need them to be––and the country needs them to be.
“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.
