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Pastimes : Neocon's Seminar Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (57)	1/9/2001 1:42:43 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1112

Interesting question neocon. My oldest daughter's fav movie of 2000 was "The Patriot." I mentioned the name of a relative the other day who I described as extremely patriotic because he supports all the local sports teams and clubs and goes overboard to support all the national holidays. She pointed out to me that she viewed patriotism as a valueing of particular ideals and did not see these things as necessarily in line with that. My chest grew three inches. So, there is "loyalty" which can be a type of blind patriotism and idealism that can contribute or detract from this sense of belonging to the national culture. On the one hand we are forbidden to advocate religious beliefs in the public education system. On the other hand the majority has the right, and obligation, as long as there is a national education system; to promote the cultural values that it believes in. Instead of promoting a values platform that we believe in, the left has been successful in implementing a curriculum of values exploration and clarification (middle school age). It is very open ended and the curriculum emphasises the "no right or wrong" standard. Very dangerous, IMO.

To: Neocon who wrote (57)	1/9/2001 2:59:46 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1112

Does the majority have a qualified right to use public education as a way of transmitting its culture? I hope I'm not being too dense, but we're talking abstractions here so a common wavelength can be elusive. I'll try to answer. There's a certain amount of American culture implicit in my scheme. It implies that every voice counts, for example, and that we're fair and democratic. It also implies that we value education, ideas, hard work, accomplishment, and the freedom and energy to be creative. You can't get much more American than that. If we transmit that much culture to our kids, I think a pat on the back is in order. We also transmit American culture indirectly in the teaching of factual subject matter. Obviously, schools would teach the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. And world history. How many of these educated and reasonable kids we're producing would fail to figure out that they should be thankful and proud to be an American? Not many, I think. I don't think we have to "teach" Thanksgiving. It's a holiday from school. That, if nothing else, will make an impression on a kid. I don't know that it matters if the kid's family eats turkey or not, although knowing that turkey is the national Thanksgiving dish would be part of cultural literacy and kids need to be aware. So if that's what you mean by using public education to transmit the culture of the majority, my answer is yes. I think it would be impossible to establish a school system without sanctioning and transmitting key elements of the majority culture. If, on the other hand, you mean teaching the Ten Commandments or Creationism or how western civilization was founded in Africa or that gay is normal, to use two examples from each end of the political spectrum, I'd say absolutely not. I would put those in the expose rather than teach category. I hope I've answered your question. Perhaps you'll share your answer, as well. Karen