Pattern Recognition
“Homosexuality caused the fall of the Roman Empire.”
Like a sinister anachronism or a quaint oddity from a Victorian indecency trial, my English teacher’s comment seemed inappropriate for civilized discourse, let alone the high school classroom. Then again, this was Utah, a state cloistered in the Rocky Mountains, shielded from the passage of time and the ingress of any concept of political correctness.
Rumors had circulated among the attendees of an AP English conference that the poet Walt Whitman was going to be featured prominently in one of the test's essay questions. My teacher, citing the prior mentioned (and dubious) historical claim, refused to teach the poetry of an alleged homosexual.
After a small pause, suggesting a moment or two of reflection, she repeated, “Homosexuality caused the fall of the Roman Empire.”
Her statement hung lifelessly in the air like one of the many quotations that adorned the classroom walls - except far less inspiring.
One such poster, presumably created to encourage critical reflection on the past, portrayed the famous (and mangled) Santayana quote, which now seemed to perversely undergird her argument: “Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Like a sinister anachronism or a quaint oddity from a Victorian indecency trial, my English teacher’s comment seemed inappropriate for civilized discourse, let alone the high school classroom. Then again, this was Utah, a state cloistered in the Rocky Mountains, shielded from the passage of time and the ingress of any concept of political correctness.
Rumors had circulated among the attendees of an AP English conference that the poet Walt Whitman was going to be featured prominently in one of the test's essay questions. My teacher, citing the prior mentioned (and dubious) historical claim, refused to teach the poetry of an alleged homosexual.
After a small pause, suggesting a moment or two of reflection, she repeated, “Homosexuality caused the fall of the Roman Empire.”
Her statement hung lifelessly in the air like one of the many quotations that adorned the classroom walls - except far less inspiring.
One such poster, presumably created to encourage critical reflection on the past, portrayed the famous (and mangled) Santayana quote, which now seemed to perversely undergird her argument: “Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.”
posted by d l wright at 12/26/2005 04:59:00 PM
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