https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/us/san-francisco-school-name-debate.html
The conversation over which historical figures should be honored has been an ongoing one, and the San Fransisco's school board's decision to rename one third of the schools has been one extreme position. Some schools include Mission High School, Abraham Lincoln High School, George Washington High School, Roosevelt Middle School, Paul Revere K-8, Diane Feinstein Elementary, and John Muir Elementary (a full list of schools, and reasons for renaming can be found at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16cre1vbJzE44JWmto_Ll7J06q9ZblQoBC-Eas3Qwf2c/edit#gid=0). The criteria used by the school board was to remove names of anyone “who engaged in the subjugation and enslavement of human beings; or who oppressed women, inhibiting societal progress; or whose actions led to genocide; or who otherwise significantly diminished the opportunities of those among us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
While I do believe that there needs to be discussion over renaming schools, I feel like the current actions by the school board have been poorly thought out. I would agree with Mayor London Breed, who criticized the timing of such a decision (“Let’s bring the same urgency and focus on getting our kids back in the classroom, and then we can have that longer conversation about the future of school names”) and the San Fransisco Chronicle editorial board, who criticized how it seemed like the work of "amateur historians" (it seems that the school board did not know whether Roosevelt High School was named after Teddy Roosevelt or FDR). I am, however, unsure where I would draw the line for names. I can see an argument for replacing some of the names, even perhaps Washington, but am conflicted over some others.
1. Do you agree with the criteria the school board presented? If not, what criteria would you use?
2. Do you believe schools should be named after Lincoln, Washington, etc.
3. Should the school continue through on this policy? What method should be used when determining which schools should be renamed?
1) I disagree with the criteria. I think it is a cheap attempt to paint our American founders as evil. I don't believe it is productive, in any capacity, to assault our roots; it is the one thing we have in common in such a diverse country, and while diversity is great we also need something to unite us; this used to be our patriotism, which now has faded, and the cultural divide is cut ever deeper between Americans. This, on top of the fact that the founders made great strides towards liberty and equality (slavery was the norm, any step in the right direction is good) makes erasing their names from our culture entirely unjustified.
ReplyDelete2) Sure. I don't see a reason as to why not, Lincoln led us through the Civil War and ended American slavery - I'm not sure what other magic people wanted him to do. Washington, arguably, is one of the sole reasons we even have this country through his leadership. We should be grateful.
3) I do not really see utility in renaming schools - it upsets people and accomplishes nothing outside of performative activism. So, I suppose my answer is no, stop renaming schools and erasing our founders.
Like Anthony, I have always seen renaming schools as generally futile and unnecessary, unless it is named after someone who clearly had a net negative impact on society. I think that people far too often unfairly judge historical figures by today's standards, even subconsciously. As society continues to develop and evolve, it is inevitable that our standards will keep shifting - it makes no sense to keep censoring history again and again like this.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of which school names are acceptable, I certainly think Washington, Lincoln etc are fine. They definitely helped this country more than they may have hurt it.
Overall, I still believe schools should only be renamed in extreme situations - for instance, I can see why a school named after Adolf Hitler should be renamed. But criticizing leaders of the past, who may have unwittingly or unintentionally oppressed certain groups through their actions, still seems petty to me. I fail to see how the name of a school is considered by some to be this important of a topic, when there is literally a pandemic going on taking thousands of lives a day.
I believe it is fine, even good and productive to be critical of leaders of the past, especially when they act to oppress a certain group through their actions. This is not to say ignore positive contributions, but rather that harmful contributions should also not be overlooked. For some people, some harmful contributions (like owning slaves) may be a disqualifying condition for being honored. This is not to say that they should be "erased" or "censored" from history, as some people are portraying it, but rather just that they do not deserve to be commemorated in such a way. Whether a person like Washington or Lincoln meets an individual's standards is an individual judgement. I would choose to honor them, but I would understand if, for someone else, they would choose not to based on owning slaves. What would be needed for determining if schools should be renamed would then be a societal judgement/conversation about whether the name should remain.
Delete1. Like what both Anthony and Rohan said I agree that this is a unnecessary reason to rename these schools. Changing the names to people like Abraham Lincoln and George Washington at this point in time seems out of place especially if it has little relevance to that particular person.
ReplyDelete2. Honestly having schools named after important people in the world isn't as much of a problem. I know this somewhat contradicts what I said above but I guess its to honor a special person based on their achievements in America.
3. To rename schools over and over seems to be more annoying then it should. It doesn't really accomplish anything besides paying homage to someone from the past who had an affect on society today. They should limit who the name schools after based on their achievements and actions in the past or present depending on whether they are alive or not.
1. Like almost all of those above, I don´t agree with the renaming of these schools. The changing of the names now serves little purpose, and may actually be more divisive in this time already rife with divisiveness. Beyond the great actions of these people, the changing of the names doesn´t really serve any purpose.
ReplyDelete2. Why Not? Washington was our first president, a great military hero, and other actions that helped found our nation. Lincoln led a through the Civil War, and freed the Slaves. If they shouldn´t have at the least the honor of having a school named after them, then I don´t know what you expected out of the past.
3. It doesn´t serve a major role in renaming schools - it only makes the divide among Americans worse. It´s purely on an activist, far-left mentality for wanting to rename them. I see no reason for the schools to change their names.
Like my fellow classmates, I do not see any real or productive benefits that could possibly come from renaming these schools. Unless the school is named after someone who had a notorious past of being hateful and unethical, I would not bother changing it. It would simply be an inconvenience and would require the school to waste money on changing the words on signs, school merchandise, etc. Sure, figures such as Lincoln and Washington have made mistakes in the past, however, they are notable figures that were integral parts of our nation's history -- and I believe that their major successes are what they are recognized for, rather than some of their bad qualities. In general, I think it is important to recognize that societal rules and expectations are much different than they were in the past. I believe that we should learn from these past mistakes to build a better society today, instead of trying to completely erase these names. Like Rohan stated, it would be counterproductive to continue "erasing" history to meet our current standards.
ReplyDeleteAs many above me have stated, i do not really see the benefit in renaming our schools. Sure many people have done cruel things and now schools are named after them, but in many cases it'll just be a logistical nightmare along with not being much of a difference. While i do understand that it might affect certain things if you said you went to a school named after an extremely racist or person who's actions caused large quantities of pain, it would also just be a schools name. It is more important that we discuss the idea of keep students alive and educated rather than renaming each and every school named after someone we may disagree with.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the consensus! The utmost importance in school is to provide a safe, engaging environment for students to learn in. I understand how the name could be a representation of morality and ideals, but like the rest of my classmates, I really can't see, frankly, why it matters so much. From other perspectives in honoring and remembering history, I understand. In this specific instance, however, there are unidentifiable, cause reasons for changing these names. The students aren't going to retain information under a "better name," nor do I think it does justice to those figures, as well as American History in it of itself.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, I don't see why a school cannot name themselves after these figures. Schools nominate these names for specific importance, and for recognition and honor to said names. John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York is one of the biggest airports in the world, and the name of our distinguished 35th President does it justice. Finally, I don't think that these policies are of grand concern. In the larger scheme, it's a supposed fight for righteousness, but the timing and frankly minuscule effect it has on students doesn't warrant much more concern from that.
I agree more with Mayor Breed and Tristan's point that renaming the schools is currently not urgent, but a conversation that needs to be had once there are less pressing issues. Many of our historical figures had good intentions, but their actions would not currently be deemed moral. The purpose of a school is to teach and create an open environment, but when their name idolizes injustices there is an innately hypocritical.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a spectrum of racism and it's tempting to just say "if the person is on the spectrum then we should tear down their name," but realistically there will need to be complete renovations which is costly. In any case, it's wonderful that our history class exposed us to the racist actions of many of our beloved historical figures, and at a bare minimum people must be aware of these actions are no longer tolerated. For now, the schools must refocus their efforts on opening, but these names cannot stay.
I agree with the point that the naming of a school does have meaning. For some people, the name of a school may be inextricably to injustice, and a school named after such an individual may be detrimental.
DeleteBecause of these reasons, I feel a blanket dismissal of renaming schools is flawed. For instance, the NYT article cites how Berkeley has recently unnamed Kroeber hall due to immoral research methods (ex. collecting remains of Native American ancestors from graves for research). I find this reason to be sufficient grounds for renaming. UC Berkeley has been renaming several buildings recently. The decision was made after considering "comments from the campus community," which largely agreed with the renaming. People felt that some of Kroeber's views "clearly stand in opposition to our university's values of inclusion and our belief in promoting diversity and excellence." The symbolic meaning of a name is not irrelevant, and needs to be considered.
I think that strict criteria is often difficult to use in history because each case needs to be looked at individually to assess the correctness of the person in question. I don't see any real problem with naming a school after Abraham Lincoln. Some of the other names should be looked at more carefully. This also attests to the cancel culture of today's society that is ruining it. No one is perfect. A mistake certainly shouldn't detract from your achievements as much as some people think. It is absurd to think that there is a person out there who is all around perfect. You also have to take into account the societal norms of the time, as well as their accomplishments and contributions to society to ascertain whether or not they are worthy of having a school named after them. I don't think that they should continue on with this policy, especially with the timing of it being as such.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anthony that the criteria present here isn't very fair or productive. It's hard to judge people of the past based on today's standard. They may have committed what we now view as atrocities, but at their time it was the norm and that's just the unfortunate reality of the situation. Like most others said, renaming these schools seems like a waste of time that could be better spent elsewhere. We should be focusing more on giving students a good education than worrying about who the school is named after (unless they are/were really, REALLY not a great person) To discredit some of the most important and influential characters in American history is necessary to some degree (nobody's perfect), but, in this situation, isn't all that productive. Plus, renaming the school, like Mia and Max said, requires lots of rebranding and lots of logistical stuff that we shouldn't be focusing on right now. And if we're renaming schools because we believe people like Washington and Lincoln were bad people, then there's a whole other issue of them being on our money that needs to be discussed.
ReplyDeleteAs others have mentioned, renaming schools seems a bit useless unless those historical figures have had a clear negative historical impact on society and are well known for embracing racist ideology. For example, when we name a school after Lincoln or Jefferson, we are not honoring their actions regarding slavery. Instead, we’re honoring their contributions to developing the American civilization. It seems unreasonable to judge such people for their actions, given that the societal norm during that time was significantly different than ours today. While I do think that renaming schools have good intentions, I’m not sure if it’s worth it, especially with the direction that modern society is taking. There are other ways to honor American leaders rather than naming schools, such as creating statues, monuments, or even dedicating a day to our American leaders, and more. I often wonder if renaming anything does more harm than good - are we making children idolize historical figures, making children develop too idealistic perspectives of them? As long as we focus on how they have historically aided and guided America in the correct direction, I don’t see any real harm.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other comments. There is no reason to change school names if the historical figure does not have a significantly bad reputation or did not support dishonorable ideas or establishments. I think the energy being put into this debate should instead be focused on reopening schools safely during this pandemic. I can see why other schools were renamed, like the schools in Palo Alto, just because the people they were named after stood for highly racist ideologies. Renaming these schools just seems pointless to me.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the criteria that the school board put out although I feel that a lot of our presidents have met that criteria and are therefore not allowed to have a school named after them. It is pretty important to make sure to not honor those who have made some pretty big mistakes in their presidency or life but everyone has flaws so there has to be a fine line that determines whether or not the people should have a school named after them. I wholeheartedly agree with your reasoning that this renaming should happen later as right now doesn't seem to be the right time to be doing it especially with the coronavirus and more important topics out there. To be completely honest, I find the most important thing about a school is not the name of it but its purpose which is to teach and educate students. This is something that must be optimized first before renaming it. School can be named Lincoln, maybe Washington, but if there are some people out there complaining then maybe its not worth it. For me, it really doesn't matter unless its someone obviously we shouldn't honor since it creates a message that these people that did bad things should be honored. It really is all up to interpretation for the most part.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of the comments above. This post reminds me of the Jefferson project we did in class, regarding whether Jefferson's statues should be removed and whether he deserved to be honored. If we're judging the people of the past by today's standards, there's almost no way that there is anyone at all who was absolutely moral and "right" in all their decisions and beliefs, especially if the people we're considering are leaders, since leaders generally embody the beliefs of the majority of the public, and many of the beliefs of the past are considered wrong now. Of course, the school board's criteria makes sense on a surface level, but I think it makes more sense to honor people for certain "good" deeds while also acknowledging that they had flaws. As long as it's clear what the person is being honored for and as long as that action/ position is considered moral today, there shouldn't be any issue. I also definitely agree that this is not the most pressing issue at hand right now, and that schools should be focusing on plans for reopening.
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard about this my initial reaction was "why," and as I'm reading this list and reasoning I'm still asking "why." The reasoning engages in presentism at its finest, some of these feel like nit-picks too. No president or leader is without flaw, and just because they make some mistakes we might frown upon today, doesn't mean that we need to "cleanse" their legacy. Lincoln for example was able to free the slaves and keep the union together. He didn't solve racism, but like Anthony said, I don't know what else you want from the dude. The reasoning on the sheet says its because of his treatment of Natives, which ok, but good luck finding any President who didn't screw over the natives before like 1950. I get if these schools were named after Confederates or something, because all they stand for is racism and treason, but I think the school board needs to look at this without their ultra-woke modern glasses.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with naming schools after Washington or Lincoln, because they were amazing leaders for their time and did great things.
First of all I don't think they should be renaming 90% of these to begin with. Second, this is what they're doing right now? We got thousands of students "learning" through their screens lacking motivation, and struggling with mental health problems, etc. and THIS is what the school board is doing? The timing aside, again the only real justification I see to renaming schools is if the person wasn't a net-positive for the nation, or was doing some messed up stuff like grooming kids or smth idk.