In the past couple of days, I came across some musings on Hoosier values that struck me. The first is from a 1948 novel called Raintree County by Ross Lockridge, Jr. It’s a book full of gauzy writing which is set in Indiana through much of the 19th century. The second is from an excellent post by the Urbanophile examining Columbus, Indiana.
From Raintree County:
It was because of this code that everyone in Raintree County, including Johnny Shawnessy, understood and, after a fashion, adulated Flash Perkins. It was the code of the early Hoosier, the backwoodsman or river man, a type already becoming extinct in Indiana. The code of Flash Perkins was the code of a people who had become great fighters and talkers in a wilderness where there was not much else a man could do for diversion but fight and talk. It was the code of the tellers of tall tales who tried to live up to their tales. It was the code of a competitive people, who had fought the Indian and a still greater antagonist, the wilderness itself, the stubborn, root-filled pioneer earth, the beautiful and deadly river, the sheer space of the West. It was the code of breezy, cocky men, who had n fear in heaven or earth they would admit to. The code involved never hitting a man who was down, never turning down a drink, never refusing to take a dare, never backing out of a fight – except with a woman. The code involved contempt for city folks, redskins, varmints of all kinds, atheists, scholars, aristocrats, and enemies of the United States of America.
The Urbanophile – The Columbus Indiana Values Proposition:
1. Bedrock Hoosier Values. Let’s not forget again that the people of Columbus are, above all, Hoosiers. And the best of Indiana values play a key roles in the city’s success. These include thrift, hard work, faith, patriotism, community, hospitality, modesty, family, and yes, that uniquely Hoosier orneriness. Urban sophisticates may mock these straightforward values at times, but they are many of the values that built America.
. . .
As much as I love Indiana, I must repudiate its overwhelming tendency towards the active discouragement of the pursuit of excellence and improvement. This attitude is a disease that affects the entire Midwest, and does perhaps more than any single other thing to hobble it.It’s a long standing condition. When my father came out of the service, he was berated by my grandfather for deciding to enroll part time in college. My grandfather thought it was a total waste. Thank goodness my dad had enough Hoosier orneriness to do what he wanted. Last year I ran across an old neighbor who went to my high school about a decade before I did. He recounted how, upon telling the guidance counselor he planned to attend university, he was told there was no way anyone from such a small school could ever make it in college and he should be a welder instead. Today he has a master’s degree and a significant professional position. I remember myself in school hearing a repeated refrain of how there were lots of people “with book learning but no common sense.” Admittedly, in my case that might have been true, but I think it shows an attitude that doesn’t just not value education, but actively despises it.
Like most generalizations (I love the irony in that set up), descriptions of what constitutes Hoosierness is going to be inaccurate in a lot of cases. Also, I’ve noticed a lot of what people feel is unique about their own location from state-to-state is often fairly common. (E.g. – “Don’t like the weather in [insert state], wait 15 minutes and it will change.”) But, I think Hoosiers took to heart the virtues of the common man; things like discipline, hard work, thrift, and loyalty. The flip side of this is a distrust of characteristics that might raise an individual above the pack. A nail that sticks up tends to get pounded down.
The topics of architecture (something distinctive in Columbus, IN) and 19th century Indiana (the subject of Raintree County) made me think of a discussion I had recently concerning Indiana’s courthouses. I don’t know how we compare to other states, but I’m often struck by the impressive architecture of our courthouses. By and large, they are these remarkable and imposing structures; in most counties, they are the centerpiece of the county seat. But there is no way in hell present day Hoosiers would build them today for future generations to enjoy. Even though our populations are far larger than when the courthouses were built, and even though we’re more productive, modern day politics simply would not allow for that expenditure of resources. Probably our courts would be squirreled away in strip-malls.
In any case, the Massons have been Hoosiers for the last 150 years, so I guess we share in the good and bad of the state. And, I’ll try to instill in my kids the virtues of hard work, thrift, loyalty and all the rest. But, I suppose we’re oddities in that we do embrace the fancy book-learnin’. Even so, I probably won’t let any of them get too big for their britches, as the saying goes.
Thanks for the challenge, which I would have been more inclined to agree with not too long ago. But now, let me play Devil’s Advocate – not for mediocrity, but for community.
Urbanophile’s old neighbor, who shunned welding for a master’s degree and a significant professional position? Odds are, that position is somewhere other than their hometown. It’s sort of “how’re ya gonna keep ’em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree?” But flip it over. Why should Podunk, Indiana be enthusiastic to send its best and brightest off the university, knowing that the odds are overwhelming that they’ll not come back? For every Brian Lamb we in Lafayette get to brag about as our native son, there’s a brilliant scientist somewhere laboring out of the limelight, and serving his Church, Lodge, and City out on one of the coasts, never coming home after mom and dad died because it’s not really home.
In other words, we’re strip-mining brains from our small towns. And what might appear smug satisfaction with mediocrity may really be inarticulate fear of losing a bright young man or woman, and preferring them here in a good job than elsewhere in a prestigious profession.
‘Nuff said.
The solution to that would seem to be to find some way to put their talents to use closer to home.
Doug, thanks for the link.
Roger, I can’t even begin to address the question of brain drain in a comment. But consider this: how many of the miraculous medical treatments that have saved the lives of many small town dwellers were created by those anonymous people in laboratories in “Paree”?
Doug, you’re not the first to suggest that the good parts of Hoosier virtue are universals, but I don’t agree with it. Read that Philip Nobel guy’s article. Then do a few googles on him. I think you’ll find his values, and by extension the values of Brooklyn and many other places, quite different from those of Indiana.
I agree completely about the court houses.
I think you’re unfortunately right about our county courthouses — our modern society has little patience for making government buildings meant to last it seems. I didn’t know if you have seen it or have it, but there is a book called The Magnificent 92 Indiana Courthouses with photos by Will Counts and Text by Jon Dilts. I have the latest revised version, but you can tell the photos are from the late 80s/early 90s when the first edition came out. Still, the pictures of the buildings are very nice and there are good little descriptions of each building (especially talking about or providing the costs, which is interesting to me). The cover has the Bartholomew County Courthouse on it, which I like quite a bit even if it is conservative architecture next to a lot of the rest of the city!
Doug – so much of this article accurately reflects my feelings about being a native son as well.
Yes, Roger – it’s true that small-towns fear losing their youth. Having spent 25 years teaching highschoolers though, I have seen a great number of kids move on – and the locality has ,ade no real effort nor could — to keep them. If we wish better for our kids than what we have – and what parent doesn’t – then how can we expect them to come back when there is no job for them to do. I watched that happen in waves in Monon, before I too was able to move to Lafayette. (Granted NOT one of the coasts… although some wish I kept going.)
And you’re right about courthouses, Doug. A good example is White County – where after the tornado, they had to rebuild.. and what an ugly building! But I suppose our elders were building a civic-minded building which would be like a secular castle/cathedral anchor to the entire county. I have a couple of friends who have personally visited every county seat to chronicle these for themselves. And if I am in a county seat with a few extra minutes, I always seek these out.. but then, I am a true geek.
As far as Hoosier values – I think that the adverseness to change is most stable – partly due to the fact that those who seek change – moved.
First, Amy, Doug, many happy returns.
Second, one thing I treasure about Indiana history–by which, of course, we mean “what Europeans did once they moved in” and not the “thrift, hard work, faith, patriotism, community, hospitality, modesty, family, and yes, that uniquely Hoosier orneriness” of the Mound Builders–is the literary tradition: George Ade, Jessamyn West, Theodore Dreiser, Booth Tarkington, Gene Stratton Porter, Will Cuppy, Dan Wakefield, Kurt Vonegut, Jean Sheppard, and Ernie Pyle, whose boyhood home we’re going to turn into condos in that uniquely Hoosier way. If that list doesn’t exactly knock the whole “college edumacation” argument into a cocked hat, well, it at least points to the contemporary political argument hidden underneath–that education is a means to grab more dollars than the next guy, and we’re falling behind. Frankly, I think we produce more than enough engineers as it is.
Conservative, even anti-intellectual we may be, in the main (like a wide swath of the country), but I don’t think that justifies conflating “pioneer values” and “post-war reactionism” while skipping over the Civil War, the Grange, Eugene V. Debs, and the Klan. And th’ hell’s wrong with being a welder, anyway?
Doug- You might consider that the kind of building materials used for those courthouses (often stone from Bedford) are impossibly expensive today, whereas they were very cheap then, thanks to the extremely cheap labor force used then. Hell, compare the mansions of that time with the McMansions of today, and the materials. No contest.
John Hiatt, native Hoosier, singing ‘Native Son’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSrcnGvuqxo
What’s wrong with being a welder? Nothing, if that’s what you want to do. In fact, welder is probably the most common profession in my family, and quite and honorable and often lucrative one. But when a kid who wants to do someone else is actively discouraged from doing so and told they ought to be a welder instead, that’s when I’ve got a problem.
Happy (belated) anniversary, Doug and Amy!
Please consider the perspective that just because some native-born Hoosier chooses to leave the state, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the state has suffered any kind of loss in aggregate IQ due exclusviely to that choice. That is some kind of expatriate self-rationalization fallacy.
Actually, my own Hoosier experience is that those that WANT to do something like welding are told they MUST go to college anyhow, for a more well-rounded education & a mountain of debt they might pay off when they’re 50.
It has been hard to resist going to college being in IT, as many think that you must have a college education to work in this field. However, it is more like welding in that the best learning is not done in a classroom, it is done while learning from a master in the real world. Thankfully, more employers are learning this.
Aaron, mutatis mutandis–as they say around the ol’ oxy-acetylene tank–the kid in New York or Austin or Hanover whose parents are professionals or academics, and who decides what he really wants to do is weld gets the same treatment. That’s the way every culture works, at least the stable ones, and my point is that acting as though a) that’s peculiarly Hoosier, or b) the damned rednecks and shit-kickers are keepin’ us down with their opposition to book larnin’, is just elitism. I do, indeed, understand the pressure to conform many young people face, but economically is just one facet of it.
Let’s, first of all, decouple the idea of education from Maximizing Your Income Potential! and promote learning for its own sake, building, funding, and keeping open libraries, Col. Ballard; by encouraging children to pursue knowledge, rather than perform on tests, and by making advanced education affordable and available. Frankly, for far too long it’s been in the hands of people who think “welder” and “loser” are synonymous, and that “gated community” is the highest ideal of Western civilization.
We have three courthouses in Perry County. The oldest is a smaller replica of the Corydon state capitol building and is in the town of Rome. The second is more in the “Indiana courthouse” tradition, and is in Cannelton. The most recent is only a few years old and is in Tell City. Luckily the first two are still standing, because the third one is a modern and fairly charmless thing.
Muncie used to have a gorgeous court house. I only know that because there is a model of it– inside the butt-ugly one they built to replace it.
As a largely self-taught individual, my beliefs tend to run largely along the same lines as those advanced by D.R. (above).
It is extremely difficult to get any kind of job that would allow you to do more than physical labor without some kind of degree, Bachelors at least.
When I was young, I foolishly believed that I could get good work without putting in the hours at college I found unnecessary or uninteresting, thinking I could instead learn on my own. I did much of that, but found to my dismay that the real world isn’t about knowledge and intelligence, necessarily, but about a sheepskin bought and paid for on credit so that you are forced into taking a job working for one of the “captains of industry” that you don’t really desire in order to pay the loan off. Or else you become a laborer whether you want to or not.
Ballard, I think, is not the kind of man who finds public libraries, endowments for the arts, or other non-moneymaking ventures to be of high priority. Instead, he has subscribed to the notion of jumping through the hoops of rote learning so that prospective employers may measure one’s suitability for a job.
The question remains: Is the job of education to make one a more well-rounded person, or is it to mold one into specific occupations in order that income potential may be maximized? Are we free to choose what we do for a living or are we drones of society?
You’re right T, the old Delaware County Courthouse in Muncie was cool, I have some vague memories of it. It was razed in 1966 or 1967 if I remember correctly. I was about eight or nine years old at the time. Ball State has a website link to the old courthouse (along with some other vintage pictures of Muncie and Delaware County taken throughout the early and mid twentieth century) with pictures taken in the early 1960s before it was torn down and replaced with the current courthouse. I haven’t been through Winchester in several years but if memory serves I think there was some kind of proposal a few years back to do the same thing to the Randolph County Courthouse in Winchester. There was a petition circulated to renovate the Randolph County Courthouse instead of tearing it down which I believe was successful.
I recently gave a small motivational speech to a group of soon-to-be-college frosh who had received scholarships from the local community foundation. My message was to strive to be the best students they could be, mainly through cultivating good study habits and befriending other good students. Another key point was to reject the anti-intellectualism that is the common currency of Indiana small-town life. I noticed some in the room (parents, I’m guessing) seemed to disapprove of this portion of my speech. Others (donors for the scholarship funds, I’m guessing) seemed appreciative of this fairly blunt message, one that is not often spoken about in small towns in Indiana, or I suspect anywhere else either.