The Great Debate

by Jack Ward Skinner

I, often, advocate for the Good Old Days. It was a harder life, in many ways, but it was, also, simpler. And this will take us back to a time when I was in 7th grade, back in the school year, 1948-49, in Fredericktown Schools.

But first, let’s do some comparing from then, till now. We have so many Time-Saving devices in today’s world that it gets confusing.

For example, you purchase an electronic Tablet or iPad. You try to get started with it. But you can’t just turn it on. You are required to jump through a bunch of hoops and provide a lot of information to get in, including several different User and Passwords, only to find out that you have to have a Smart Phone, or cell phone, to receive a 6-digit code to put into your Tablet log-in information for security purposes. It’s enough for us old folks to pull our hair out, and that would be a short job for me, since there are not many there anymore.

But there would be one area where today’s kids would have a great advantage over the time when I was in school, and it does involve these new electronic devices. That’s if you are have a class debate on politics and an up-coming, national election, and you need to do research.

So, let’s go back to 1948 and the 7ths grade. This grade was split into 2 classes because there were too many students for one room. So, a small group of about 20 students was sent to a small room that had been renovated from a storage area before. And we had a brand-new teacher to the Fredericktown School system. His name was Mr. Lang

Now, Mr. Lang was the first male teacher, other than the principal, Mr. Lowry, that our class had had in the elementary. Earl Seal had taught there before, but not while we were in school. So, this was quite a novelty for this small group of students.

And Mr. Lang was tall, blondish, and a handsome fellow. The story was that he had been in the FBI at one time, and we were completely awed by him. It turned out though that he was a very nice teacher. Mr. Lang would be responsible for starting up basketball in the elementary grades in Fredericktown. We had no organized sport teams in elementary, but, with his influence, we joined the group of teams around the Leadbelt.

Mr. Lang was, also, interested in affairs on the national scene, as well, and he wanted students to get interested, too. Now, before this time, we were only interested in sports and girls (speaking from the boy’s point of view). We didn’t give a hoot about politics. That was for the grownups, like our parents. Oh, we heard them talk about it, but we were not really interested. After all, it would be another 9 years before we would vote.

But Mr. Lang was forward-thinking, and he wanted us to have a mock debate. You see, if you recall your history, 1948 was the great Presidential contest between the Republican Dewey and the Democratic candidate, former Vice President Harry Truman, who was, then, President of the United States. And, you might recall, this was a heated debate on the national level. Dewey had been a big crime buster and had a big reputation. Truman was from Missouri, so he was not very well known all throughout the states until President Roosevelt died in office, and he had to take over. Of course, Truman was the President to see the end of World War II and authorized the dropping of two atomic bombs on enemy cities.

But Mr. Lang’s debate was to come before the actual election. He divided the class into 2 groups, to represent the two major political parties. Our first problem was, what is a debate? Mr. Lang explained that we were to search for information on the subject, then discuss the pros and cons of it.

Most of us went home and asked our parents about the situation. Naturally, a seventh grader would take the same approach that their parents did. But, if you wanted to do some digging on your own, you might check the papers. We had the local Democrat News and three St. Louis papers: Post-Dispatch, Globe, and Star Times. There wasn’t much in the funny paper section about politics, and who reads that other stuff on the front page. That was for adults. So, 99% of us was prepared with opinions of our parents.

Now, enter one special student, Marjorie Slavens. Marjorie came to our class in the 6th grade. Marjorie was legally blind. When she read anything, it had to be just a few inches from her eyes. Naturally, she did not play sports, and seldom did anything on the playground at recess. So, Marjorie had lots of time to peruse newspapers. While the rest of us listened to Johnnie Ryan on the brand-new Farmington station, KREI, or the Cardinal ball game on the Flat River station, Marjorie listened to the news on St. Louis stations.

And Marjorie came prepared. She had her ducks in a row. And she was on the Democratic side of the debate. Normally, Marjorie was a quiet person, but when the debate started, she became very animated, loud, and vocal. She blew the other team away. It was no contest. Our side was thoroughly whipped into submission. She had an answer for every point we proposed. Even other members on Marjorie’s team were awed. They just let her do the talking.

And we lost. And, if you recall, the same thing happened on the national scene. Big headlines in one of the big-time newspapers read, “Dewey Wins”, only to find out the next day, Truman had slipped past him, overnight, to win the Presidency.

Well, our class went on from there, and we never had another debate, class-wise, on politics. That 7th grade debate was, I guess, a wake-up call to make us begin thinking on a more mature level, thanks to Mr. Lang.

And Marjorie? Well she went on to become our class Valedictorian in our Senior year. She went on to college, and though she is, probably, retired by now, the last I heard of her, she was a Professor in a University in Michigan.

I wonder if she taught Political Science?