
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 14, 1992                   TAG: 9203160144
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SHARON S. WOOD
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BATTLING THE MOUNTAINEER STEREOTYPE

THE COMMENTARY by F. Meads Davenport and Mary Margaret Kopp Feb. 28 was a good description of the problem facing not only Floyd County and other Appalachian localities, but also other small rural pockets across the nation. They make excellent points about the value of our resources and our need to protect them.

However, the accompanying cartoon so horrified me that it was several days before I could even read the commentary objectively.

A few weeks ago, I attended the viewing of a video produced by a Radford University group of students on how non-native Appalachians perceive this region. Comments from students enrolled at the university invariably touched on one of two topics. Either the interviewee praised the region's natural beauty, or criticized the people as naturally backward and uncouth.

Descriptions could have been taken from "The Beverly Hillbillies" or "Deliverance." One young man meant to be kind when he commented that the people aren't really stupid; they just seem that way.

While I realize Davenport's cartoon was meant to be taken tongue in cheek, I also realize that many people will not do that but chuckle, instead, at the humor in "hillbilly backwardness."

As a teacher at Floyd County High School since 1974, I have watched a dramatic transformation as the school population has changed from predominantly sixth- and seventh-generation descendants of the county's first settlers to a mixture that also includes first-generation residents and transients. It hasn't been easy for these young people to blend and accept one another, but it has been far more difficult for them to deal with the stereotypical image forced upon them.

At 16, it is hard to appreciate what unspoiled natural beauty means, what close family and community relationships mean. At 16, it is easy to be irritated by people always pointing out that you are different from the rest of society, even though the only real difference you see is that it takes a little longer to drive to the fast-food chains, the mall, the theater.

If I were to ask my students for a description of a mountaineer, I'd get images very much like Davenport's cartoon. Several would add the gun, the jug and the outhouse.

If I were then to say, "but you all are mountaineers," they would argue vehemently. None of us wants to be perceived as backward and stupid. By presenting such stereotypical images to our young, we cause them to reject the very culture that is giving them the unique strength they have.

We want our young people to think very carefully about the decisions facing this country. We want them to have the courage to make choices based on conviction. We have to give them an image of ourselves as strong and capable so that they can feel strong and capable.

We must not believe the image others present of us as weak-willed and ignorant, and we must never, never put forth that image ourselves.

Sharon S. Wood lives in Copper Hill and teaches English and writing at Floyd County High School.

by CNB