Petition to Change Names of Stuart and Lee HS

[Anonymous]

That's why those schools are IB!!!'

[Anonymous]

What were these names of these schools before they were changed in 1959?

[Anonymous]

^ Lee HS opened in 1958. I have never heard that there was another name besides Lee for the school.

[Anonymous]

Stuart HS opened in 1959. I don't believe it ever had a different name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
+1000 This is the best post on here. I taught at Lee High School. It is now a hugely immigrant school. It is very welcoming of all minorities. What matters is the environment of the school and that is what affects the students. And it is a decent school with caring teachers and many programs. The name Lee is way down the list of things that matter to the students there. I don't think people should be foaming at the mouth over this stuff. We have much more important things to discuss. And I am no fan of the "Old South". I am a Northerner who transplanted here. I do think Robert E. Lee qualifies as a person who was not completely evil. At the very least he can be recognized as a brilliant military strategist who graduated first in his class at West Point. Lincoln admired him and had asked him to be his general. Yes, there was slavery, but this is all a part of history and history is messy. Maybe there is a message in all of that for all of us. Nobody at Lee HS is whitewashing the history of Lee. There is no intimidation or scariness at Lee HS that is resulting from the name of the school.

Numerous Lee graduates and former teachers have signed the petition and noted their shame and embarrassment about attending and teaching at a school in NoVa named after a Confederate general. The school wasn't named after Lee because of his success at West Point, orr Lincoln's esteem for him, and you know that. It was named for him because he had led an armed war against the United States, at a time (1958) when Virginia was resisting the Supreme Court's mandates to integrate the public schools. It's a shameful legacy that many people are more than willing simply to overlook, but there is significant social research suggesting that forcing minority students to attend schools named to honor Confederate heroes has a negative impact.

[Anonymous]

I don't see why anyone would feel shame about the naming of a school after Lee, unless someone in their family was involved in the naming.

The changing of the name of the school has no impact on me, so I don't care if the name is changed or not. I do think that you are dreaming, if you think that changing the name will have any effect on racism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1000 This is the best post on here. I taught at Lee High School. It is now a hugely immigrant school. It is very welcoming of all minorities. What matters is the environment of the school and that is what affects the students. And it is a decent school with caring teachers and many programs. The name Lee is way down the list of things that matter to the students there. I don't think people should be foaming at the mouth over this stuff. We have much more important things to discuss. And I am no fan of the "Old South". I am a Northerner who transplanted here. I do think Robert E. Lee qualifies as a person who was not completely evil. At the very least he can be recognized as a brilliant military strategist who graduated first in his class at West Point. Lincoln admired him and had asked him to be his general. Yes, there was slavery, but this is all a part of history and history is messy. Maybe there is a message in all of that for all of us. Nobody at Lee HS is whitewashing the history of Lee. There is no intimidation or scariness at Lee HS that is resulting from the name of the school.

Numerous Lee graduates and former teachers have signed the petition and noted their shame and embarrassment about attending and teaching at a school in NoVa named after a Confederate general. The school wasn't named after Lee because of his success at West Point, orr Lincoln's esteem for him, and you know that. It was named for him because he had led an armed war against the United States, at a time (1958) when Virginia was resisting the Supreme Court's mandates to integrate the public schools. It's a shameful legacy that many people are more than willing simply to overlook, but there is significant social research suggesting that forcing minority students to attend schools named to honor Confederate heroes has a negative impact.

I'd like to see that research. Anyway, it's not 1958 now.

It's not really my business, since my kids do not go to Lee. If the administration and students there now want to change the name, then they can do so, as far as I'm concerned. The impulse doesn't make sense to me, but it's not my decision to make.

[Anonymous]

Do you really want money spent on this?

[Anonymous]

I definitely agree that Stuart and Lee have to go, but Woodson seems more tenuous. Is his gradualist approach more a product of the time as opposed to being a racist? If anyone has a different perspective, I would like to know.

Also, I think Fairfax High should change its mascot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you really want money spent on this?

Yes. I would like to see money spent giving a clear message to AA youth that they matter, and that their experience in school matters.

[Anonymous]

but there is significant social research suggesting that forcing minority students to attend schools named to honor Confederate heroes has a negative impact.

Please cite your source on this "significant social research".

Also, minority students, like all students, are forced to attend schools with all kinds of names because of compulsory education laws (state). The locals mandate which schools will be attended based on geographic location of residence.

Maybe it is time to change the names of these schools. But I find it very dubious that the name of the school is affecting students negatively to any real degree. Many of the students at Lee don't even know who Robert E. Lee was (I am not kidding you---it's mostly because they have not been in the US long enough to know). I suppose they find out when they get to the 11th grade US history course, but I'm not sure they suddenly feel a negative impact at that point.

[Anonymous]

The more I learn about Lee, the more worthy I find him. Really, pretty admirable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

but there is significant social research suggesting that forcing minority students to attend schools named to honor Confederate heroes has a negative impact.

Please cite your source on this "significant social research".

Also, minority students, like all students, are forced to attend schools with all kinds of names because of compulsory education laws (state). The locals mandate which schools will be attended based on geographic location of residence.

Maybe it is time to change the names of these schools. But I find it very dubious that the name of the school is affecting students negatively to any real degree. Many of the students at Lee don't even know who Robert E. Lee was (I am not kidding you---it's mostly because they have not been in the US long enough to know). I suppose they find out when they get to the 11th grade US history course, but I'm not sure they suddenly feel a negative impact at that point.

Can you actually point to a situation where a white child in this country is zoned to a school named for someone who fought to maintain an institution that was as horrible for white people as slavery was for AA's?

And am I correctly understanding your second argument that the students of color couldn't possibly mind the names because they are too ignorant? If we find one who does object, will you call them uppity next?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we going to change the name of Lee highway, while we're at it?

Sure, why not?

How about anything with the word "Dixie" in it?

Don't forget. George Washinton was a slave owner too.

And the Lee family was prominent for generations and did a lot to develop the Virginia economy. It isn't named for Robert E.

Yes, it is.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Highway

Well, I stand corrected.

[Anonymous]

Lee should be dropped from W-L.