You know, I almost moved to the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington, and I’m sure glad I didn’t. Every late June, local businesses plant little flags in the front yards of all the houses of all the streets with names like Buckingham and Hampshire and Swarthmore, so as you drive up them there’s a sea of little flags. What, are you going to take yours down? What does that make you? Get with the program! Then on the morning of the fourth of July there’s the truck with the megaphone that drives up and down the streets, blaring the message to get out of bed and get down to the parade, over and over and over again. You know, the fourth of July is called Independence Day for a reason.
Now comes the news that a set of parents, concerned that their high school students aren’t getting a pro-Christian message in public schools to buttress their kids’ pro-Christian teachings on Sundays, have set up an “independent study” program for their kids, with separate history classes that teach a pro-Christian version of history and separate English classes that have pro-Christian literature in them.
Now, these courses are taught outside the school building, by non-district teachers, and paid for by the parents, so I’m not going to make an argument about the separation of church and state, although that claim might be made by others. No, these parents and the school that coddles them may be within their rights. I’m just noting that this is a community in which people seem awfully interested in living in a bubble of samey-samey conformity. Everyone put those flags on your lawns! Everybody get down to the parade! Stay away from them thar minor-i-tees (Upper Arlington High School is less than 1% Black and less than 1% Hispanic in composition). And goodness gracious, but let’s not have our dear children be exposed to ideas that aren’t in alignment with what they already hear on Sunday in church.
Samey, samey, samey. What a dreadfully boring place to live.
