This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Civics a Weak Spot

Thanks go to those who voted in this year’s town elections, helped the election run smoothly, worked so hard to get out the vote, or stepped up to run for office. The campaigns were hard fought—witness the extraordinary number of letters submitted to the Courier. An amazing 60 percent of eligible voters participated.

Special thanks go to the many school alumni who cared enough about Guilford to weigh in. They testified how our school system prepared them academically, but not for life outside the idealistic bubble that Guilford provides. The town overwhelmingly supported our Board of Education (BOE), its vision for the curriculum, and by extension, the superintendent of schools. Work still needs to be done.

I hope the BOE uses this election as an object lesson in civics about town governance, the importance of town elections, and citizen participation. I fear civics is a weak spot in the curriculum. Work also needs to be done in the community. Although the election is over, a significant percentage of our community lives under profound misconceptions and the fears those misconceptions engender. James Baldwin famously said that there’s not a Black problem in America; there is a White problem. Mr. Baldwin fervently loved our country. He believed that if the plight of Black America was explained, and that deeply embedded, implicit biases were revealed, White America would collaborate to truly integrate society. Although he never lost hope, his failure illustrates the difficulty of this challenge.

Perhaps our BOE together with the Guilford Community Center could create an adult education program that addresses the history and current manifestations of racism. Besides school curricula, such a program would help inform Guilford’s citizens about current issues facing Connecticut such as health disparities, zoning reform, and police reform. I hope we all support such efforts.

Larry Rizzolo

Guilford