Reactive Stupidity in Cary Grove

by Teri O'Brien   

Unfortunately for 18 year-old Albert Lee of Cary Grove, he’s never had some slimy, corner-office dwelling weasel in a position of authority look into his eyes and earnestly say “no, really be honest,” only to learn that, when confronted with those words, telling that person what you really think is precisely the next to the last thing you should do. (The last thing, of course, is to tell the phony jerk “yeah right.”) In Mr. Lee’s case, the authority figure was his creative writing teacher, Nora K. Capron, who told him to turn off his inner critic and write a stream-of-consciousness essay for her class. The result? He was arrested and his enlistment to the Marines was revoked. Kid, I could have told you, and now you know. Talk about your “teachable moments.”

That’s an important take-home lesson, but it’s not really what’s going on here. I’ll tell you what is. Hold on. Don’t stop reading. This isn’t one of those pretentious, chin-scratching “pieces” debating the merits of the “better safe than sorry, cover our rear end” policy v. the “free expression means never having to say you’re sorry” school of thought. Spare me. If I want to wallow in pointless blather, I’ll read one of Barack Obama’s speeches.
    We’re dealing with a first-year teacher, fresh out of the PC factory called the University of Illinois who claimed to be disturbed by the violent imagery and profanity in his writing. I think she was disturbed by this guy long before he wrote this essay. How do you think she viewed this young, patriotic soon-to-be Marine? I’m thinking she viewed his enthusiasm for joining the military as prima facie evidence that he’s a potential psychotic killer. “He joined the Marines. He likes scary guns!! He wants to kill!!” Why do I think that if some Birkenstock-wearing, peace-sign flashing victim of Bush Derangement Syndrome wrote an essay with equally violent imagery, perhaps directed at what she considered more appropriate targets (think Vice President Cheney or even the President), this teacher would have had a different reaction?
    Then there’s the principal, Susan Popp, who decided that the best response to a student essay was to call the police. There’s a profile in good judgment! Would it be too much to ask, given the very generous salaries and benefits we pay these people, to expect the barest minimum of common sense? I realize that’s a lot to ask, especially when we’re expecting it from a female principal dealing with a young man (“He joined the Marines! He likes scary guns and he wants to kill!!”) in the feminized environment of the modern school, but like Alec Baldwin, I can dream. Well, maybe not as much as Alec, because it seems he has a lot of dreams, but you get the idea. Ms. Popp, do you have the brains of an ant, or did I just insult millions of hard-working ants?
    Something that no one has mentioned, but since my role in life is saying what no one else will, please allow me. Does anyone seriously think that these two sensitive educators would have had Mr. Lee, who is Asian, arrested if some Asian nut job, who had been identified as a ticking time bomb over a year ago, hadn’t shot 32 people at Virginia Tech a couple of weeks ago? If I were Albert Lee and his attorney, I would consider filing a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination against both of these boneheads and the school district that employs them.
Finally there’s the lesson that we started with, the dangers of speaking truth to stupidity. Perhaps Ms. Capron didn’t appreciate being characterized as a “control freak” who baked brownies and rice crispy treats to try to make up for her inadequacies as a teacher and taught a class that was “complete BS.” I’ve never been in her class, and I can’t speak to whether she’s a good teacher, but I can submit as evidence of her obvious intellectual rigor her “educational motto/favorite quote” as reported on the Cary Grove High School website: "Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. And dance like no one is watching." Such are the fruits of that fine U of I education. What’s her favorite book? Jonathan Livingston Seagull?
Perhaps we should be grateful for one thing. Lately when we hear about a young female teacher abusing one of the boys she’s supposed to be teaching, it may or may not involve handcuffs at some point, but eventually ends up with the teacher arrested, not the student. Still, Albert Lee did get screwed by the education bureaucracy, and the powers that be need to make this right yesterday, if not sooner.