Beer For My Teachers

John Dotts personally impacted my development more so than any other teacher I've had in my life, before or since, but the first thing I remember will always be his unique way of bringing his classes to order.

Ten years ago, my friends and I repeatedly signed up for anything he taught—from world history, to civics, to the Latin classes he introduced (the first of their kind in Santa Fe Public Schools). I doubt if any of us ever consciously appreciated the effect he was having on us, but the generally accepted notion was that, "Dotts is The Man." And not "The Man" who so infamously "gets you down," as he routinely introduced himself; in many ways, it was this ironic proclamation that drew many of us to him.

He was the first teacher who had ever admitted to seeing the inherent flaws in the system that was trying to socialize us. Everywhere around us were arbitrary, seemingly unfair and bureaucratically enforced rules, placed there—as far as we were concerned—only to stifle our blossoming adolescent spirits.

Then suddenly this tall, professionally dressed, bespectacled man was standing in front of us admitting, "It is unfair. We both have to be here for the next 90 minutes, though, so let's talk about history."

And while he never directly usurped the authority of his superiors, or led us directly down radical political or philosophical roads, he was the first of our "captors" to treat us like thinking, intelligent humans, who were entitled to not only our opinions, but any information that might help support them.

I thought that in my quest to find the essence of our community, this Lubbock, Texas, native who has spent the last 20 years guiding children through the gates to adulthood would offer a truly incisive perspective. We met up for a beer over the summer, and I probed him for some insider perspective on my alma mater, Santa Fe High.

Just like a decade ago, he'd never presume to tell me (or probably anyone else) what to think, only what they can see for themselves:

"Any institution is trying to create order out of chaos. [The high school] reflects the community we live in, so any problems that exist are just reflections of the community."

He continued, "Look at the rate of change everywhere in the country; what makes Santa Fe unique is there's forces working against that. Most Americans see their extended families maybe once or twice a year, while many of my students live with theirs. Technology is taking over everywhere, but lots of people here have a different perspective on that. Like everything, it's a double edged sword…from the same values that give us these wonderfully tight-knit families, a lot of girls in our community seem to get sent the message that their intellectual development doesn't really matter, or that they shouldn't worry about improving themselves and just take care of family members. And I know a lot of girls that are not like that and that are fighting against that tide, but are they being reinforced in that?"

That dichotomy between our progressive spirit and our traditional values is a large part of why many of us love it here. In my youth, it felt like hypocrisy, but luckily, there were reasonable people like John Dotts around, urging me to get the rest of the story.

Santa Fe Reporter