I was a first grade student in a middle class white Maryland suburb in about 1966. Think Johnson administration, automobiles with fins.
I befriended a kid named Dennis Godbald. Note the unusual surname, which I've never encountered again. Godbald was not from the same socio-economic stratum as most of the kids. He was white welfare trash. And he was "bad" -- a bit of a discipline problem. Maybe his home life was more dysfunctional than most -- maybe. In any case, I don't think he was stupid. He had a rebellious spirit and a well-developed sense of humor.
One day Godbald and I were walking through the schoolyard discussing the possibility of doing something -- I forget what -- and I remarked that our teacher, Mrs. Leroy, would probably disapprove. And Godbald said these exact words: "Aw, shit on Mrs. Leroy." I laughed at the disrespectful attitude and the blunt way it was expressed.
Shit on Mrs. Leroy has informed my thinking about authority ever since. Not that all authority is to be disrespected; rather, the burden of proof is on authority to prove its legitimacy. A test which the perhaps well-meaning Mrs. Leroy failed, from young Dennis Godbald's point of view.
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