In English class we’re reading Galileo by Bertolt Brecht. During the book, Galileo’s assistant (a young student) is faced with the fact that the church will willingly reject knowledge in order to maintain the facts about the universe that they have preached for the past two thousand years. To Andrea (the assistant) this comes as an unbelievable shock. Mr. Jacobsen, our English teacher, asked us to come up with an example where someone might act as the church did. The example our class ended up using was the following: If a group of well respected students proposed a well researched idea to Thacher’s administration and they refused to look at it, it would be because they knew that the students were right and they didn’t want to accept the proposal. This example really hit home for us and gave us a great idea of Andrea’s feelings of hurt, shock, and disappointment.

For me, though, it also gave a sense of gratitude that we go to Thacher where teachers and the administration listen and respect our ideas. A place where ideas proposed are discussed and changes will be enacted if necessary–a place whose administration is opposite to that of the Catholic Church in the 1600’s.