C.B. Aycock, Moral Licensing and You

This week our football team played C.B. Aycock High School. If that name doesn't ring a bell for you, then I'll give you a short history lesson. Charles B. Aycock was governor of North Carolina from 1901-1905 and is largely regarded as North Carolina's "Education Governor." As a former teacher and superintendent of Wayne County Schools, Aycock took North Carolina from one of the worst states in the nation in regard to schools, to one of the best in the South. During his four years, NC constructed 690 new schoolhouses and increased state spending on public schools by 1200%. Today, elementary students throughout eastern North Carolina visit his birthplace in Wayne County and glamourize his contribution to our state.

But there's another side to the story. Aycock was also a key player in what would become a systematic political regime that sought to restore white supremacy to politics and life in North Carolina. Aycock and others in the Democratic Party openly used race-baiting and overt calls for segregation to change the nature of state politics. Before his rise to power, there were 126,000 black North Carolinians registered to vote in 1896. By 1902, there were only 6,100 due to things like literacy tests and violent intimidation that were openly designed to restrict blacks from voting and holding office. Aycock helped start a political machine designed to "keep blacks in their place" for the next 30 years.

So why don't we remember him as a racist? It might have something to do with moral licensing. Moral licensing is a psychology term that simply refers to allowing yourself to do something wrong or immoral because you have just accomplished something good. Your self-confidence for your good deed gives you permission for the bad deed. Aycock's good deed of improving schools (even black schools) was a tremendously good deed, especially for its time. North Carolina went from one of the very worst states for education to a very progressive state that would lead the way for reforms for almost all southern states. In turn, we appreciate the good that he accomplished and tend to ignore the bad. But if you were a black voter in the early 1900s, you probably don't remember him for the good that he did.

This year we started off by asking what teachers as individuals and all of us as a school wanted to be known for. Much like Aycock, our reputations might depend on who you ask. But rest assured, there is something you can do about it. In what ways are you guilty of moral licensing? Are you a great classroom teacher that puts off grading or contacting parents as much as you should? Do you pour yourself into building relationships and put off the tough work of examining curriculum that best grows students? There are a million different things that we all do that can fall under this idea. It ultimately comes down to building our strengths and working on our weaknesses. Choosing to ignore a weakness in our profession, much like politics, can deny someone else of an opportunity.