The Perfect Example of Communalism

Andreal Davis – Madison School District Instructional Resource Teacher for Cultural Relevance, via a kind reader’s email:

Communalism is the concept that the duty to one’s family and social group is more important that individual rights and privileges. On November 4, 2009 I personally experienced this concept through President Barack Obama’s visit to James Coleman Wright Middle School.
The experience began with my 12 year old son, Ari Davis, being selected to lead the Pledge of Allegiance during the ceremony. Minutes after being informed of this special occasion, I was invited to attend the event as a member of the Madison Metropolitan School District staff. Thus, I attended the ceremony wearing two hats, one as a parent and the other as an educator.
On the day of this event, several of us anxiously awaited – for more than four hours – the arrival of President Obama. During this period I experienced first hand the spirit of communalism. A recap of my educational career began to unfold in the parking lot as I held conversations with past and current MMSD colleagues. As I entered Wright Middle School I had the opportunity to interact with students I had taught at Lincoln Elementary. This allowed me to see some products of my work by listening to their thought provoking reactions to the President’s impending visit.

Clusty Search: Communalism.

2 thoughts on “The Perfect Example of Communalism”

  1. Communalism means that children of MMSD employees don’t automatically get chosen for special privileges.
    And what are we to make of the error in the very first sentence?

  2. Anonymous:
    The employee’s child’s special privilege struck me the very same way. I live in a fairly small school district, in Minnesota, in which many of the teachers have children attending the local schools. The teachers seem to have their own clique, in which they do favors for each other and each others’ children, to the detriment of honest, hard working students who are not related to the teachers. Many of the teachers are also related to each other, and in addition to the ever-present cronyism that takes place, there is a lot of nepotism floating around. They also intermarry quite a lot. Many of the teachers’ children, having “benefitted” from these favors for years, are ultimately poorly prepared to function in a world where they have to compete fairly, so after college they return to their home town where their parents can pull some strings to get them a job in the local schools, which perpetuates the hiring of mediocre teachers who are already a part of the favor system.
    I’m not so hot on this whole “communalism” concept, obviously, having seen how it is put into practice in actual public schools.

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