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Tyrants play when teacher’s away By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on March 12, 2009, in the Connersville News-Examiner. Back in high school, I had an English teacher who ran a pretty tight ship. Students did not speak out of turn. Missed homework was dealt with harshly. Ball caps and coats were not allowed in the classroom, even though Michigan Upper Peninsula winters made for a chilly school. And while cell phones were not an issue in the late 1980s, the portable electronic devices of the day — namely cassette players and early compact disc players — were certainly verboten.
Some of the students resented the unwavering control he exercised in the classroom, and some would mock and ridicule him at their lockers, but they did not question his resolve, and they certainly did not to his face. One day, however, he was absent. In his place, we had a substitute teacher. The poor girl didn’t stand a chance. A handful of troublemakers had a grand time that day, joking and carrying on with each other, flinging spitballs and generally ignoring the substitute. Even though the rest of us didn’t take part, an aloof attitude settled on the class and the day was wasted. For the substitute, it was probably the longest 55 minutes of her life. When our teacher returned, he said in no uncertain terms he was not pleased with the behavior the class displayed. Even more, he did so without actually raising his voice. The class was in trouble, and we all knew it. In all, not a lot was actually lost that day. Our teacher made up for lost time by doubling up on lessons, and those of us who were trying to pass the class knuckled down while the budding gas station attendants didn’t care one way or the other. A single day was easy to reclaim, but if we had the substitute for four years, I don’t think I could say the same. Twenty years later, the international scene is starting to remind me of that high school day. On Monday, the Pentagon announced that five Chinese ships and a Chinese light aircraft brazenly harassed an unarmed U.S. Navy ship sailing in international waters last week. The ship, the USNS Impeccable, was sailing in the South China Sea mapping the ocean floor, but the Chinese predictably accused the ship of being on a spy mission. The communist state has long claimed the South China Sea as part of their territory — a claim the United States does not recognize — but China has not been this belligerent in defending their claims for some time. The incident prompted Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair to tell Congress on Tuesday that China is apparently adopting a more aggressive military posture, opening the door to future military standoffs between the U.S. and China. Similarly, the despotic North Korean regime is ratcheting up its aggressive stance by planning to launch a long-range missile capable of hitting U.S. territory. The North Korean government officials claim they are attempting to launch a satellite, but considering the poor, isolationist country that cannot even feed its people maintains one of the world’s largest military forces, U.S. diplomats are not taking the North Koreans at their word. North Korea has gone as far as threatening war if the U.S. shoots their missile down. This is not new for the North Koreans, but they have taken hostile military action many times, so intelligence officials are never certain when the North Koreans are bluffing or when they are serious. Iran continues to seek its membership in the nuclear club, and the International Atomic Energy Agency reported in February Iran has more than a ton of low enriched uranium. While the IAEA denied Iran is attempting to reprocess the uranium for use in nuclear weapons, the New York Times on Feb. 19 reported that Iran likely has more enriched uranium that it claims. When President George W. Bush was faced with an arming Iran, he left the door open for military action against the Middle Eastern nation, saying that “all options were on the table,” including nuclear strikes. Considering Bush’s response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the world knew he meant what he said. President Barack Obama, on the other hand, said he would talk to the Iranians “without preconditions,” putting it to Iran to “unclench their fist,” as he told Al Arabiya television on Jan. 27. Obama is putting forth a strong front to our adversaries, but at the same time, he is offering to talk to enemies, even the Taliban — a gesture many may see as weak. The president has been embroiled in the financial crisis, so his attention to foreign policy has been understandably lacking. But other nations may be starting to smell blood in the water and are preparing to take advantage of a withdrawing United States. Vice President Joe Biden during the 2008 campaign said Obama would be tested by a crisis once he took office, assuring the nation Obama has a “spine of steel.” But if Obama does not back up these claims with action against increasingly hostile world powers, he may find that nations like China only see him as the substitute, and they will treat him accordingly. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2009, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
My teacher was not an imposing man. He was maybe 5’10” and 150 pounds soaking wet, but his diminutive figure did not impede him — quite the opposite, since he would stand his ground with anyone, to the point of fighting hand to hand with a violent 300 pound hooligan trying to turn the school into his own boxing ring.
