My government teacher: desegregation was the result of radical, activist

[oostevo]

My government teacher: desegregation was the result of radical, activist judges. I suppose he has a point in that the strict constructionists did not value desegregation as much as other judges did, but geez. That's taking it a bit to the extreme, no?

I can't wait until I'm out of this darned high school.

[elfwitch]

1. life after high school...

Anybody who tells you that THOSE are the best years of your life, hasn't really lived.

High school is about surviving. If you make it to the end, you have done something. Keep your chin up.

[TheMightyFavog]

2. Or...

could it be that he was he was just defending judicial activism?

Or is your HS History teach a Freepbot?

[oostevo]

3. That's a valid point,

and taken out of context (like I presented it) that alternative certainly makes sense. Unfortunately, taken in context, I think it's safe to say that he meant it.

[apnu]

4. You know I remember the Government teacher in my HS

(12 years ago) and he was the late 80's early 90's version of a right-wing bastard as well.

In fact, I don't recall of hearing of any government teacher from any high school that wasn't biased to one degree or another.

I don't know about anybody else, but I think government teachers should introduce personal political bias in a class on politics and government.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

5. 'Strict constructionist' vs 'activist' is a false dichotomy.

Which is demonstrated by the fact that no judge would ever label themselves as an 'activist' judge. It is a term used as a pejorative by those who disagree with the judge's rulings.


And don't they hate the following:

Amendment XIV

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiv.html

[cryofan]

6. What happened was that the judges then had grown up exposed to ...

....a certain egalitarian, quasi-socialist philosophy. This philosophy was born out of the literature they read growing up. This really goes back to around the turn of the century. Jack London, for example, helped propagate this philosophy.

Back in those days, there was a fairly large grassroots movement towards socialism and egalitarianism and the welfare state. We have NOTHING like it today.