British Politics -- Entertaining and Nearby

Earlier this week I accompanied Caterham's Lower 6th (similar to our juniors) to a Politics Conference at the Westminster Central Hall in London. The Hall is right across the street from Westminster Abbey and Parliament. The trip reinforced a long-held belief: the Caterham School students are extremely fortunate to be so close (less than an hour's train ride) from one of the world's greatest cities. I occasionally find myself comparing London to New York -- that's accurate but only up to a point. London is not only the financial capital of the United Kingdom but, of course, the political capital as well. So, a more valid way of looking at it would be to say that London is a combination of New York and Washington D.C. That's pretty impressive!

The Conference was quite informative and entertaining. It featured, among others, George Galloway, a very anti-American politician who broke away from the ruling Labor Party to form the Respect Party. He's the only member of Parliament from his party; he spent most of his time criticizing the war in Iraq and answering questions about why he had appeared on the British TV program "Big Brother" pretending to be a cat. Other speakers were from the Liberal Democrat party -- one of whom, after his presentation advocating, among other things, a 150 million pound sterling project to track incoming astroids, belted out a few notes on his harmonica. The two major parties, Labor and the Conservative Party, featured decidedly more mainstream (and, yes, boring) speakers. As we left, one of the Caterham students offered this insightful comment: "the closer you are to political power, the more bland and centerist you have to be." True enough. Third parties, although slightly more powerful in the U.K. than in the U.S., are, in both countries, pushed to the margins of the political spectrum by the two dominant parties.

The Experts Weigh in on U.S. Politics

Last week students in the Upper 6th had a chance to attend a day-long conference on United States politics at the British Library's Eccles Centre. Tom Murphy, a Caterham School deputy headmaster and U.S. politics instructor, and I accompanied 25 students to London for this exciting opportunity. Students got to hear from several U.K. university experts on such timely topics as the John Roberts Supreme Court, President Bush’s likely legacy and major issues to watch for in the 2008 presidential campaign. The professors were joined by two former Congresswomen, one a Republican and the other a Democrat. The academic experts were thoughtful and organized and it was interesting if not surprising to hear the guest speakers' picks for next year's presidential race (Clinton and Giuliani -- just as the current polls predict).

View conference program with details on discussion topics.

Conference speakers: former U.S. Congresswomen Sue Kelly (Republican, New York) and Barbara Kennelly (Democrat, Connecticut), Professor Iwan Morgan (University of London), Professor Robert Singh (Birkbeck), Professor Philip Davies, Dr Ross English, Dr Niall Palmer (Brunel University)

The Presidency and the Supreme Court -- Why aren't things easier?

OK, we are close to wrapping up our study of the U.S. Supreme Court. Soon we will be moving on to Congress -- that should be fun! But, one last point related to the Supreme Court concerns the mantra we all sing in the States about checks and balances. So...what's a presidential check on the Supreme Court, says American teacher to English students? The correct response, offered by several concientious students, is the President's ability to appoint judges that share his political ideology, thereby reshaping the direction of the court's decisions. (See, for example, President Bush's appointment of the moderate-to-conservative John Roberts as Chief Justice and the quite conservative Samuel Alito as associate justice.) So far, so good.

Then we come to the Nixon Watergate tapes case, where Chief Justice Warren Burger, nominated by Nixon, writes the opinion for the Court AGAINST Nixon, essentially ending any hope on Nixon's part of avoiding resignation or impeachment. And, if that weren't enough, there's the famous quote by President Eisenhower, commenting on HIS appointment of Earl Warren as Chief Justice: "the biggest damn fool mistake I ever made." So, the bottom line for my English students: yes, presidents can TRY to reshape the Court but, as with so many other aspects of history, things don't always turn out the way political leaders expect.

Getting a Grip on Federalism

The two U.S. Politics classes I teach are getting both more interesting and more complex. My students seem to be doing fine, for the most part, with the three branches of the national government, the two parts of Congress, and the related concepts of separation of powers and checks and balances. However, when all of these different entities and ideas get layered on the fairly abstract (and for British students foreign) notion of "Federalism," things can get difficult.

Think about this, for example: Why is the death penalty allowed in most states but not in about a dozen or so? The answer, of course, is that in the U.S., states have substantial powers, including whether or not to inflict capital punishment. But then, as we Americans know, there are many instances when states can't do what they want to and have to yield to federal (national) law. What are those situations, my students want to know. Give us some clarity; tell us the rules. Could there be a Constitutional Amendment passed? (Yes, that's possible). How about a federal law that supercedes a state law even wtihout a Constitutional Amendment? (Yes, that's possible too.) How about a Supreme Court decision that restricts state powers, without either a Constitutional Amendment or a federal law? (Yes, unfortunately for students struggling for certainly, that's possible too.) The "it depends" response is, unsuprisingly, not entirely satisfactory.

Fortunately for all concerned -- students and teacher -- the bell rings. But, Federalism and its many ramifications will still be there, lurking and confounding, when we suit up again tomorrow.

What's Going on with British Politics?

We're nearly a month into the Caterham school year -- in fact, we started the same day Reserve did. I'm teaching two different groups of students: the Upper 6th Form is studying U.S. politics whereas the Lower 6th is looking at the British political system. One of the big differences that Caterham students have picked up on quickly is the "fixed" time for holding U.S. elections compared to the episodic nature of British elections, called by the sitting government at any time within a five-year period from the last election.

So, the big buzz in class now is: will Gordon Brown, the new Labor Party prime minister, announce an election in the next week or two. If he does, the actual election must be held three weeks! after the announcement. How's that for a blessedly short campaign? If that were ever transported to the States, what would cable news networks have to do?

The students seem pretty evenly split on whether the early election call will actually occur but, as an American interested in British politics, I hope it does. Prime Minister Brown, however, has not returned my call urging him to go foward. I guess he thinks he's got better things to do.

Topic for next time: Caterham students' perceptions of the U.S. political scene.

Photo: Courtesy of ukfree.tv

The World Keeps Getting Smaller

As you may have heard, the Headmaster has been in England for the last few days. Last Thursday night I caught a train up to London and had dinner with Dr. Flanagan and another long-time friend, Michael Miller, director of external affairs for the American School in London.

This morning, the always busy Dr. Flanagan stopped at Caterham on his way to Gatwick Airport and back to WRA. The two of us met briefly with Caterham's new headmaster, Julian Thomas. We talked about next month's arrival at Reserve of 12 Caterham students for their two-week visit beginning October 19.

As a final point on the meeting, how about this? A former student had asked me recently to write a letter of recommendation for his application to study history at the University of Oxford. The application is due at the end of this week and needs to be included with the rest of his application materials. So, even though Caterham is about 50 miles from Oxford, I handed the recommendation off to Dr. Flanagan, he put it in his briefcase, it's now going with him back to Hudson where it will be picked up by the student, and then mailed back to Oxford -- total distance traveled by the time it gets there will be north of 6,000 miles!

A Day Off from Teaching - A Visit to Cambridge

As those of you in the WRA History Movie Club will remember, the Academy Award winning film Chariots of Fire was set primarily in Cambridge, England. On Tuesday, with no classes (they call them "lessons" here), I took the train up to Cambridge for some historical sightseeing. The trip was fairly long -- about two-and-a-half hours each way, but very worthwhile. I saw both Caius College -- the alma mater of Olympic gold medal winning sprinter Harold Abrahams, and King's College, famous for its world-renowned chapel choir. Cambridge is a beautiful city, much more compact and managable than Oxford. There was a lot of punt traffic on the River Cam thanks to a gloriously warm Indian summer day. Cheers!

Academics Aside

On the non-academic front, the weather over the five days since my arrival has been great -- sunny and warm in the day time, cool at night. On the sports front, England is getting ready to defend the Rugby World Cup championship it won four years ago. The opening match is Saturday against, of all teams, the United States. I'm not looking for great things from the Yank ruggers, but we'll see. Cheers!

Starting Classes

Well, today is the first day of classes, just as it is at WRA. But, because England is five hours ahead of Ohio, we'll be finished up with day one while Reserve is still in first or second period.

Here at Caterham we'll be getting started on United States politics by looking at the U.S. Constitution in detail and then comparing it to the (largely unwritten) British Constitution. It looks as if I also will be assisting several upper sixth students (approximately equivalent to WRA seniors) in writing research papers on United States history. The research topic involves the evolution of the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. over the period from 1865 to 1968. Should be interesting.

Leaving for Caterham

I'm packing this morning for a three-and-a-half month trip to Caterham, England, where I will be teaching U.S politics and history classes at the Caterham School. This is the first part of my one-year sabbatical. The John W. Hallowell Sabbatical enables faculty at Western Reserve Academy to spend a year studying, teaching and traveling as a way to expand knowledge and enrich the classroom experience.