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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (53068)	7/16/2002 1:55:14 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

If the kids in class happen to be reading about Dick and Jane and see Spot run, I could see "an exposure to contradictory traditions in the classroom" brewing there....I think American classrooms should reflect American traditions. Food traditions and religious beliefs are totally different. My family has the tradition of eating mushrooms, potatoes, and buttermilk on Christmas Eve and never ate turkey on Thanksgiving or any other time. Food traditions are quaint. Freedom of religion and the separation of church and state are among the most important of American traditions, as well as the law. Founding principles. If you want to put dog sandwiches in the same class as the quaint traditions of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, that seems reasonable to me. But there's a huge difference between quaint traditions and founding principles. Lumping them together is dismissive of both serious religious beliefs, for those who have them, and founding principles.

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (53068)	7/16/2002 2:51:22 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

I think the single most important American tradition, the one thing that really defines us as a people and as country different from the rest, is that we are immigrants: we are (directly or through descendants) from someplace else, often someplace that expelled us or didn't value us due to religious or ethnic or other biases. Much of our culture and tradition has evolved in reaction to that, and while not all groups have assimilated perfectly, the assimilation of outside groups here is often better than in most other countries. When we start defining a "tradition" which is not inclusive of the wishes and beliefs of relative newcomers to our country, I think we end up losing the American tradition that matters the most to me.