The Free and Equal; R. Colvard

The demand for absolutes, for wanting it all, is an earmark of immaturity. We who would be adult are not surprised when we see an ill-tempered preschool child kick his new tricycle viciously, then scream in his tantrum of fury that "the bad thing hurt me." He is utterly frustrated by the atMr. Colvard teaches at Clairemont High School in San Diego~ tendant consequence to him; his toe is bruised. His wails of an guish and rage are designed to bring parental compassion and, hopefully, a new toy to offset the "injustice" of his misfortune. During the past few weeks at institutions of higher education in Southern California, a new year's glut of academic graffiti has ap peared with slight variations in artistry and spelling. This is an example: I AM A PAWN IN THIS CAPITALIST CHESS GAME. When I see this particular epigram, I invariably think of an unruly child and his tricycle. Doubtless I am biased by age if not by maturity. I tend to agree with Milton Friedman's concept of economics: "There is no free lunch." As a militant middle-of the-road high school teacher I mis trust lobbyists for farm subsidies and advocates for welfare rights.

293 294 THE FREEMAN May Each man's right to be different is a right. James Madison delineated this point. Writing in the National Gazette in 1792 he noted: ... as a man is said to have a right in his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. When an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties or his posses sions. Few of our youth, if allowed to choose individualism, will resign themselves to the "security" of mass equality. They, like the great Goethe, know "as soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live." Not only do they see the satirical paradox in: "Be my brother or I'll kill you"; they see it as well in the vaunted revo lutionary concept of Rousseau that individuals must "be forced to be free." The right of the in dividual to, choose must include the right to choose unwisely. It follows, moreover, that a mature individual will accept the respon sibility not only of choosing, but also of the consequences. In a free society each individual does what he thinks is best for him individ ually.

An acquaintance of mine re tired from the Navy as a Chief Petty Officer in 1960. An uncle of his was highly critical. "Twenty years in the service," the elder kinsman said, "and you're still only an enlisted man. My son's been in for just six years and he's a Lieutenant Commander/' During the ten years which have elapsed since the incident, the re tired Chief has been a high school history teacher. Recently his un cle commiserated with him again for his lackluster showing. "You still stuck in the classroom?" the old man asked. "By this time you should be a principal." He is com pletely unable to accept the be havior of his forty-five-year-old nephew as rational. That the nephew may value· satisfaction over prestige in his work is whol ly incomprehensible. Let Each Be Responsible for The Results of His Choices My professor in an industrial management course described an accident which occurred in a corn starch refinery several decades ago. An explosion in a partially filled railway car caused adjacent cars and loading platforms to be demolished. Fires spread through out the area. Three workers were killed in the blast, a dozen seri ously inj ured screamed in pain and terror. The manager was in shock, walking about muttering aimlessly: "What will I do? What will I do?" A dispatcher from the shipping office took charge. He 1972 TO BE FREE AND EQUAL 295 quelled the panic about to start, he sent out crews to fight fires, he or ganized rescue squads to get aid to the injured, he put men at work clearing paths for the fire trucks and ambulances which he sum moned.

The professor concluded his lec ture a few minutes early and left the room. I followed him to his office. "Look," I said, "I want to hear the rest of the story. Wasn't the manager fired; didn't the dis patcher get a promotion?" "Of course not," he said. "The dispatcher,' when it was all over, was still a dispatcher. That was his job. The plant manager was still the manager. Why not? He had a Ph.D. in chemistry and a Master's in Business Administra,tion. He earned his position by ten years of university study, ten years of management training, and 'know-how' that saved the company ten million dollars every year. Both men were in their eco nomic positions of their own free choice. Only in folklore would the dispatcher be jumped precipitous ly to the office of vice-president as the disgraced manager was stripped of his executive wash room key and drummed in dis grace out of the company's gates.

In industry prospective managers choose to become and become high salaried managers because they take on a responsibility to drive themselves toward that ambition." "I doubt that I'm that ambi tious,n I told him. "Neither am I," he said. "I know. it and I'd rather be here in the university. But there .is an important point that you and I, the less intensely ambitious peo ple, must remember: it's morally dishonest and intellectually shal low for us to blame anybody but ourselves for the responsibility of our choices." Self-Respect Comes First Three hundred years ago the philosopher , John Locke, told us:' "He that would have his son have a respect for him and his orders, must himself have a great rev erence for his son." Whenever I point the finger of scorn at my fellows I am acutely aware of the three remaining fingers pointing back to me. We who have chosen to work in the nation's schools are guilty threefold in denying stu dents freedom to choose. Wearbi trarily determine performance levels for them; we defend our legal public monopoly of pedagog ical services; and we demand com pulsory attendance laws. Perhaps we need a greater reveren~e for the business we are in and a healthier confidence in our per formance.

Although contemporary legal de cisions have weakened the educa296 THE FREEMAN May tional concept "in the place of a parent," the· students who come into our classrooms are morally our sons - or daughters - and each of them deserves from us an indi vidual acceptance as an independ ent, unique, and thinking person ality. As teachers we must not beat them down to a placid level of mediocrity. Hopefully, we can, if we try enough, give each of them the elbow room of Illulti lateral awareness, of diversified choice, of unlimited scope, of an unequivocal independent responsi bility for his or her own self realization. We can no longer af ford the luxury of blaming an im perfect economic system for our own nonsuccess. As Voltaire wrote, "It is not the scarcity of money, but the scarcity of men and talents, which makes a state weak." Faith in Freedom The lack of faith o.f so many of us in schools, educators, and school boards, weakens our teaching of personal responsibility by the ubiquitous trust we have in an awesome and benevolent govern ment whose panacea is looming for all our ills. Voltaire, the man of reason, said something also for those of us who are looking to this powerful benefactor for support: "In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizen to give to the other." It is un fortunately the commonplace for school superintendents to vie for the Federal·bonanza. Their quest for "equality," at the cost of free dom, causes them to bus "Yellow"

students to "Brown" neighbor hoods and "Black" students to "White." Perhaps we should ask ourselves whether equality is a laudable goal or whether freedom of choice might not be more in keeping with the democratic prin ciples in which we claim faith. If we must err, please God, may it be on the side of freedom. ~ IDEAS ON LIBERTY The Fundamental Political Principle Now, the cardinal doctrine of any sound political system is, that rights and duties should be in equilibrium .... An immoral political system is created whenever there are privileged classes - that is, classes who have arrogated to themselves rights while throwing the duties upon others. In a democracy all have equal political rights. That is the fundamental political principle. WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1889) STATUS end product ofwelfare MORRIS C. SHUMIATCHER IN 1066, William the Conqueror proclaimed himself master of all of the lands of Britain he had taken and occupied - all of which he declared to be his property as lord, or his fiefdom as king. Feudal culture grew upon the premise and concept that all life should be ordered in accordance with the es tate in land given to each man and the status thus acquired by him and his family.