Seeing Barack Obama gazing at Mount Rushmore takes me back to Mrs. Friedrich, my fifth-grade teacher at Paxtonia Elementary School in Harrisburg, Pa. One day, she showed us a picture of Mount Rushmore and explained that it was a natural rock formation. Isn’t that incredible? she told us. Just wind and rain and a few ice ages, and there are the faces of four US presidents carved into the mountain.
We, mere fifth-graders, laughed down her idea of it being a natural rock formation. “No it’s not!” we said. Just fifth-graders in open revolt against our teacher’s omniscience. She insisted weakly, but then backed down and went on to something else. That night I’m sure she looked it up, or asked the principle, and learned the truth. The students had become the teacher. But hey–she was a rookie teacher that year. Give her a break.
I’m just glad the wind, rain, and ice ages stuck to US presidents. What if, instead of, say, Teddy Roosevelt, we had the image of Joseph Stalin? Or Chairman Mao?
