THE SIXTIES

The last two blogs have been set in the forties and fifties, but let’s move on to the sixties --- that’s when all the changes began. Many people my age were involved in the “no war, drugs, and love” scene, but as I said, I was too busy having and raising children to do more than observe what was going on. I do recall that we were living on the UF campus when we began hearing about the Civil Rights Act and wondering how the government could legislate whom restaurants served, etc. Then Kennedy was killed and Johnson was able to get that bill passed. I remember resisting the idea, but I liked being able to eat with African Americans for the first time ever.

I had always wanted to associate with people of the black race on a social basis, but had had no opportunity. Now with integration in the public and work places, I could do so. The genius had some black acquaintances at work and we invited them into our home on several occasions. And Ashley had a friend from school who lived near us and visited us often. And Ashley, in turn, went to her house to play. So things began to look up for us in this area.

So what happened? Many things, actually, but busing was a huge factor.

The genius and I were raised in public schools and believed strongly in the system. Our children had attended H. G. Hill, an innovative pod system school, for several years when busing went into effect. I’m not sure what happened in other schools, but at ours, busloads of students from a single housing project were brought in. Hill was made into a K-4, and the fifth and sixth grades would be at another school across town. Ashley was in the 4th, Jim, the 2nd, and Brenda in kindergarten when it all started.

School began at 10:00 a.m. to accommodate all the schedules for busing all ages and ended at 4:00. I remember we had to take piano lessons in the morning instead of the afternoon. It was a strange schedule, but adjusting to that was minor. The culture shock each group endured was something else entirely. Every day it seemed that the children came home with a different negative story. The language they heard on the playground was shocking, the fights that broke out, both inside and out, the behavior problems, the sexual innuendos, the lack of learning, I could go on and on. We lasted one year in the public schools and it was all over for us. As much as we wanted integration, we were not willing to sacrifice our own children in the process.

We watched all around us as the schools began to close their doors and be torn down. The first to go were Parmer and Woodmont, the two schools the genius and I attended, then eventually, Burton, Stokes, Robertson Academy, and H. G. Hill (but it has reopened now). For some reason, Julia Green has lasted until this day, but that is the only one on this end of town. And of course, new private schools opened and flourished. We enrolled ours in one and never looked back.

It was a financial sacrifice that we had not counted on when we began having children, but in spite of all the hardships, I believe with all my heart that we made the right decision. Our children were (are) very bright, and we wanted them to learn in the best environment possible --- that just wasn’t going to happen in public schools unless they tracked from the first grade on. But that couldn’t take place because it was considered racist. So we felt that we made the only decision we could. The good news is that at the children’s new schools there were some African Americans, some of whom they came to know very well.

I know that segregation of the schools was not right, nor fair. And I don’t pretend to have the answers to the problems. But I do know as a teacher that our public education in Nashville is in a shambles. I can’t tell you how many times I heard the following from parents while I was teaching at FRA: “I just don’t understand it; (Mary, Bob, etc.) was making straight A’s at __________ and now he can’t even pass!”

And one more thing: the powers that be are finally realizing what busing has accomplished in the area of parent interest. As long as there were neighborhood schools, everyone was involved. Why not? They could walk or drive a short distance to school to attend meetings, sporting events, etc. All that went out the window in the 60’s. I don’t know if we can ever rectify what has happened to the system, especially with the drug, sex, and crime problems, but I hope that this one step of restoring neighborhood schools will help to inject some common sense into the situation.

That would be an excellent beginning!!