Stuart Egan, NBCT High School Teacher in North Carolina, writes here about the lessons learned from a TV series set in the 1980s called “Stranger Things.” Remember the 1980s? There were no charter schools, no voucher schools. Public were and still are the heart of their communities. But some communities have been ripped asunder by false notions of choice and competition, whose main goal seems to be to sow division and break community spirit.

“The fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana became the epicenter of a lot of “binge-watching” in the last month as the second season of the hit series Stranger Things was released in nine episodes.

“Following the trials and tribulations of these school-age kids and their families is rather surreal; the music, the fashion, and the hair styles are as authentically presented now as they were actually in the 1980’s, especially if you are a middle-aged public school teacher who listens to The Clash like he did growing up in a small rural town in Georgia where he rode his bike everywhere without a digital link to everything else in the world.

“He just had to be home by dinner.

“While the kids and adults in this fictional town battle forces from the “upside down” amidst a government cover-up during the Cold War, it is easy to get lost in the sci-fi aspects of this well-written show. And it is very well-written and produced. But there is one non-human entity that is foundational and serves as the cornerstone to those people in a small section of Indiana: Hawkins Middle School, Home of the Tiger Cubs…

“If there ever was a cornerstone for the characters in Hawkins, IN, then it is the public school. It serves as the greatest foundation of that community.

“The AV Room. Heathkit. School assemblies. The gymnasium. Science class. Mr. Clarke. Eleven channeling Will. Makeshift isolation tank. Portal to the Upside Down. The Snow Ball. Parents were students there. Ghostbusters suits.

“Those are tied to Hawkins Middle School.

“So is growing up, coming of age, hallway conversations, epiphanies, learning about others, following curiosities, finding answers to questions you learned to ask.

“Those are also tied to Hawkins Middle School.”

The question that we should all try to answer is how “conservatives” became devoted to the idea of destroying community institutions.conservatives used to serve on the school board and lead the PTA. When did it become conservative doctrine to oppose public schools?