Some Things Change…Others Don’t

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https://comforttv.blogspot.com/2024/...hers-dont.html

When we watch classic TV, we may be struck by how American life, culture and attitudes are different now than they were in the era in which these shows were set - sometimes progressing to a more broadminded outlook, and often regressing, ironically in the name of progress. And sometimes we are dismayed by how we are still struggling with issues that challenged our society decades ago.

And sometimes, it can be tough to tell the difference.

“Lift, Thrust and Drag,” a season four episode of Room 222 that first aired in October of 1972, illustrates both perspectives. It introduces us to Eddie, an African American student who is indifferent to Pete Dixon’s classroom lectures about history. “I’ve never been able to find the key to that kid,’ Pete tells Principal Seymour Kaufman.



Eddie isn’t interested in any of his subjects, so Walt Whitman High begins the process of transferring him to another school, hoping the change will stimulate some engagement. Pete, a licensed pilot, is headed to the airport that day and on a whim invites Eddie to join him.

Almost immediately the apathetic student finally seems enthusiastic about something. That reminds Pete of a flight-training program started at another California high school that raised the GPAs of every student that participated.

There were and still are actual programs like this. My high school had one. But I went to a well-funded suburban school that could afford it.

When Pete proposes the class be tried at Whitman, he already knows it will be shot down by the school board over budget concerns.

Fortunately, the flight instructor offers to volunteer his time, so for this one semester at least Eddie and other students can learn the rudiments of aviation. And it does stimulate an interest in math and science – for the first time, Eddie’s grades go up, as do those of his classmates.

Failing schools and education funding are two issues that haven’t gone away and are usually linked together in the debate over what’s wrong. It’s easy to contrast the school I was fortunate enough to attend with an inner-city high school like Whitman and conclude that the only problem is money – or the lack of it. But like other proposed solutions to complex issues that are presented as quick and easy, they don’t tell the whole story.

Fact: The United States spends more per student than the UK, Sweden, Australia, Canada, Germany, France and many other countries where better results are achieved. So perhaps it’s not just funding. Maybe it’s administrators not allocating funds toward programs that would inspire better engagement. Perhaps the wrong lessons are being taught (hold that thought). Or perhaps we no longer have enough teachers like Pete Dixon.

A school board rep meets Pete at the airport, is impressed with the flight program, but as expected regrets that they can’t afford it. Eddie overhears the conversation and is ready to drop out, this time for good. Without the program, he asks, how am I going to learn how to fly?

“How bad do you want it?” Pete responds. “Get a job – washing planes, pumping gas, scrubbing floors, anything.” But then Eddie offers another reason to quit: “Do you think they would ever hire a black pilot?”

“Sit down,” Pete says, getting peeved in a way he rarely did with a student. “The times are over for that ‘I’m black’ cop-out. Because that’s just what it is – an excuse not to try. If you’re willing to give it everything you’ve got, you can do anything you want to.”

And unless it emanates from home, I would guess that, for many black teens in 2024, this episode would be the first time they hear that message. How terribly depressing, especially following so much of the divisive rhetoric that emerged from one side of the debate this election year. Who could blame anyone exposed to that poison to believe that we were still in the 1960s – or the 1860s.

Racial disparity in opportunity was certainly more likely 52 years ago when “Lift, Thrust and Drag” originally aired. But there was Pete Dixon, a black teacher, telling a black student in 1972 not to buy into the vile programming emanating from media and politicians that the deck is stacked so high against him that he might as well give up now. And if you want something, it won’t always be handed to you from a school or government program – you need to work for it. I hope that lesson is still being taught in many of our schools, but I fear that too often schools and society are now sending the opposite message.

Television once had the prominence to inspire, to educate, to advocate paths to success and fulfillment when such options were not provided elsewhere. In its current fractured landscape, I’m not sure the medium could still do so. But even if it could, are there any shows like Room 222 willing to do it?