April 3, 1970
A special issue on Ramsey students and religion
Inside, in a special section on religion, a line drawing depicted Jesus with long hair and beads, raising his fist with “Revolution now” and “Conspire” written on his clothing. Another drawing showed him smoking a suspicious substance while sitting laid back in front of a “Free Huey” poster (Huey Newton had co-founded the Black Panther Party and spent six months in jail).
The characterization -- or mischaracterization according to some -- of Jesus as a cultural and political activist had at least drawn readers' attention to the issue’s content.
Coverage of students and religion included a visit to a contemporary mass at the University of Minnesota’s Newman Center. There, on an Easter Sunday, guitars and Beatles tunes (“Good Day Sunshine”) had replaced the pipe organ and Bach. In a sermon Father Harry Bury called on those in attendance to “make a sacrifice, whether its joining the Peace and Freedom party, resisting the draft, or fighting for Peace.” The Catholic priest knew of resistance and sacrifice. The next year he would chain himself to the U.S. embassy in Saigon to protest the Vietnam war.
The issue also featured interviews with a religion instructor at Roseville’s St. Rose of Lima Catholic church and several Ramsey students who were living and questioning their faith. “I don’t think organized religion is all that important any more,” said a Ramsey senior. Religion was still a part of her life but she had stopped going to church, over the objections of her father. Other students were more cynical. “If there was a creator, he wouldn’t let the world go to pot this way,” said a Ramsey sophomore.
Yet a Blueprint poll found that 90 percent of Ramsey students said they believed in God and more than half went to church regularly. Only 6 percent said they never attended. The majority of students were either Catholic (29 percent) or Lutheran (27 percent).
Drug use at Ramsey was reported to be increasing, especially among younger students
The school district knew there was a problem. Their strategies, as reported in Blueprint, included forming a drug council to educate the community at large, more education for teachers about the drug issue and examining possible health class curriculum changes.
The problem of objectionable language by guest speakers at Ramsey mini-courses seemed to pale in comparison to the drug problem. But work continued on setting rules for these presentations, and school administrators submitted a new series of guidelines to Blueprint editors.
The paper opposed the restrictions in a strongly-worded editorial. The new rules declared, among other requirements, that a speaker “must conduct his presentation in a manner that reflects the moral values of the community.” It was not clear what moral values were predominant in Roseville at the time, and the paper found the guidelines vague and arbitrary.
“Does it take numerous committees set up to protect the students of Ramsey from “dangerous” ideas or language?” the editors asked, in an editorial that would win an award from the National Scholastic Press Association. “Or can we eliminate negative guidelines and simply say that students should be able to hear all points of view in high school, even those that may disagree with those of the community.” The editors concluded, “That’s what we think education is all about.”
In this issue
Mark Johnson as Henry Drummond in Ramsey's production of Inherit the Wind
Senior trackman Phil Houde leads the way in a two-mile relay
| The Radical (cover) | 1 |
| Guidelines - no, no, no (editorial) | 2 |
| TV high school fantasy | 2 |
| Holman's Heroes: The pink pass game | 2 |
| Ex-Ramseyite calls for logic, reason | 3 |
| mcj: the best of the worst | 3 |
| Blueprint student forum | 3 |
| Abilene sends two exchange students | 4 |
| Drugs: What is being done about it? | 4 |
| IDS: Discussions, movies replace books | 4 |
| Computer club offers help | 4 |
| Changes for 1970-71: New schedule begins in fall | 5 |
| AFS helps send seniors abroad | 5 |
| Students rap on religion | 6 |
| Clergy discusses student apathy | 6 |
| Bible's power endures | 6 |
| Modern mass inspires enthusiasm | 6 |
| Poem | 6 |
| Students rap on religion (cont.) | 7 |
| Clergy discusses student apathy (cont.) | 7 |
| Modern mass inspires enthusiasm (cont.) | 7 |
| BP poll: Parents require religion | 7 |
| Poem | 7 |
| For final week: Teachers for change | 8 |
| Room 150 gets new spring look | 8 |
| BP referendum: Students veto guidelines | 8 |
| An uncensored look at censorship: The censor machine | 9 |
| The censor machine (artwork) | 9 |
| Trackmen: Depth, talent and experience | 10 |
| Sleiter, netmen very optimistic | 10 |
| Golfers to hit White Bear | 11 |
| P.J. sports column: Golden rule | 11 |
| Ram baseball title outlook: dim | 11 |
| Bootleg album holds surprises | 12 |
| Rock review: Greasers bring in Depot | 12 |
| Ramsey Lewis Trio excites, swings, lives | 12 |
That week in April
- American Motors Corporation introduces the Gremlin (April 1).
- President Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, banning cigarette television advertising in the U.S. (April 1).
- The biographic war film Patton is released to theaters (April 2).
- The Flying Nun airs its final television episode after a three-year run (April 3).
- Paul McCartney announces that he has left The Beatles (April 10).
Quoteable Quote
If there was a creator, he wouldn’t let the world go to pot this way.
—A sophomore quoted in story on students and religion
