Penny Thoughts: Education and American Freedom

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of The West Alabama Watchman.

I am one of those Americans who gets all geared up for July Fourth, and even though I have had relatives who, in the past, referred to it as a “Yankee Party,” it engenders great pride in me as we celebrate our Independence from Great Britain. I still love sitting down and watching James Cagney play George M. Cohan in “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” and yes, I still cry when I hear the U.S. Marine Corps Band playing the final stanzas of “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

O.K. So, I’ll never get a job with the New York Times to cover their Washington Bureau, nor will I be invited to address the next “Move On” convention.

But I am still be able to revel in the pride of a 244-year-old nation which reluctantly has been thrust into the role of World Leader in everything. And in its evolution as a notion of a democratic republic, it is unique to human civilization in that it has as its underpinning thread the commonality of an ideology, as opposed to a deeply entrenched past or a singular cultural identity.

I can remember talking with my Arabic friends when I taught in Bahrain about what it meant to be an Arab, and I would hear tales of past civilizations, of wars and victories centuries old, as if they happened yesterday, and of dynasties long since disappeared. And I was envious because I had nothing to even compare when asked the same question about being an American.

So, just what is an American? How do we define ourselves? We began as a British Colony, and those of our predecessors who wanted to break out of that mold were not exactly in the overwhelming majority at the outset. George Washington was a rebel, perhaps even a terrorist according to the Brits, but he stood for something which has become uniquely American – determination, dogged determination. Until the attack on Trenton, N.J., on Christmas Day in 1776, we had not won a single decisive victory to that point.

Today, we call it American “stick-to-it-ivness” for lack of a better phrase. And there has always been a world-wide respect for our efforts in that approach. We have become identified as a determined people, a compassionate people, a freedom-loving people. And our approach to educational systems supports that nuance in the American tapestry.

I do not know if it is still taught today, but I can remember a ninth-grade course called “Civics.” It dealt with the machinations of the American governmental structure. It showed how the executive branch (the President) was there to enforce our laws made by a bi-camera legislature (two-house) which could be interpreted by the judicial branch. It was a required course and a great deal of fun, and it fascinated me.

We had elections for class officers, homeroom officers, prom king and prom queen. And those elections were designed to give us a sense of the importance of our individual franchises (rights to vote) in a democracy. As I remember, they were always lively and well supported. It was the application of democracy, the exercise of freedom.

It is obvious to me that every group which has come to our shores, whether to escape their previous conditions or in chains, has significantly written a new history and a new multicultural society the likes of which the rest of the world has never seen or could have imagined. Without that which we celebrate on July 4 it would never have emerged.

America’s educational system has always supported and helped define the concepts of freedom and individuality. Without an extended history or easily identifiable culture there had to be something which made Americans unique, and, indeed, it was our belief in the sanctity of individual free will within the structure of a tolerant society.

Granted, when the revolutionary boys met for the Constitutional Convention in 1789 they forgot that slaves and women were yearning for a piece of the American identity, and their lapse of reason cost us dearly, not only in terms of lives lost, but in terms of wasted talent as well.

And so, we arrive today, 244 years after those rebellious British Colonists declared our “Independence” from King George and his oppressive regime. We have the world’s greatest economic engine – we have people so eager to enter our country that they would risk their lives and spend thousands of dollars to achieve such entry, even if illegally – and we seem to be torn apart internally by ideological diatribes directed by extreme idealists at the far edges of our political spectrum.

In the midst of this we still have an educational system which is struggling to do its best to promote a sense of inclusion without losing the basic identity upon which we were founded. We have teachers who for the vast majority are loving what they do and are dedicated to the individual advancement of every student.

And that, in and of itself, is enough to bring a tear to my eye whenever I hear that line in our National Anthem, “…and our Flag was still there.”

Happy Fourth of July, my fellow Americans, and may we enjoy another 244 of them!