Society Struggles With Who Is In Command of the Future

Middleton High Struggles To Get School Spirit Back

Read the article.

Sounds like a sociologist and an anthropologist might give some insight into the problem.

"He knows Middleton's progress has been hindered by a lack of continuity, which is crucial for a young school. He is the third principal since 2002. The old Middleton had just four principals in 37 years."

There is something in the last two sentences that just gets my attention.

Who is in charge of Middleton?

That is not a simple question.

Maybe it is just me, but it seems like those who are fighting to reestablish the "history" of Middleton (and Blake) are caught in a bad spot because they are trying to reestablish a sense of "community" that can not be established in today's world.

How would it play out if a "white community" tried to reestablish the history of a past segregated "white school"?

Can we imagine a group of "white community leaders" getting together to talk about "the white community" and asking their kids to embrace "their white heritage"?

There seems to be a disconnect.

"
"Segregation forced us to take care of one another," said Fred Hearns, who graduated in 1966.

But the Middleton that the alumni remember is much different from what exists today."

Exactly.


Maybe it is just me, but I wonder if the black kids get a mixed message when they are told to embrace the past.

Maybe it is just me, but "embracing the past" brings many different sociological and psychological challenges, all of which are not warm and fuzzy like the Alma Mater.

Maybe it is just me, but perhaps one reason there is difficulty in developing a sense of "community pride" by the black leaders is because "the community" no longer is restricted to a black-only population. Middleton is a magnet school. It attracts others from "outside the community".

There seems to be a disconnect.

Maybe it is just me, but I wonder if the students feel the disconnect. And maybe the hypocrisy.