War and Remembrance

Thirty-odd years ago, when the United States was engaged in a conflict aboard, the author kept her opinions to herself. Almost.

By Susan Van Kirk

How does one teach during wartime? In 1968, at age 22, I had the answer and few questions. In 2005, at age 59, I have too many questions and few answers. One question in particular haunts me: Did I serve my students well by not speaking out?

An exhilarating time of great possibilities, 1968 was also a grim time of war. Graduating from college, I was a political moderate but a solid pacifist about the conflict in Vietnam. I argued repeatedly with my friends about the reasons for going to war, the government’s spin about what was happening there, and the casualty statistics for both sides. But when I began teaching in a public high school, personal views and professional responsibility were also at war. That the small town where I taught was conservative became quite obvious when I signed a page of my contract stating I was not a communist and didn’t plan to overthrow the government. I believed my teaching should reflect that community.

So what stand to adopt in my speech classes when discussing current events? While I believed I had the right to free speech, I decided on a neutral stance, encouraging students to speak out and back up their views with reasoned, civil discourse. I rebelled in less political ways, such as allowing my students to choose psychedelic yellow for the classroom walls and joining them in painting while listening to their views on the war. I was young, sure of myself, right in my convictions, and...