As long as they don't do what then-retired Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger did during the bi-centennial of the Constitution and what R.J. Reynolds later did when it sponsered similar public displays of the Bill of Rights: These programs circulated original documents under heavy security or good facsimile copies in an air of holiness. They did far less to actually INFORM people about the political and legal MEANING of these documents, beyond "Look how great we are; we have this two hundred year old piece of paper that we remember today as being somehow important in our country's history". At the time of the Bill of Rights celebration, I was doing criminal defense. To ME, the Bill of Rights could have been written the day, or at most, the week before. Fresh, vital, relevant to what I was doing every day, IMPORTANT for what they SAID. And NOW Congress is considering expanding the warrantless search authority of the FBI in the name of fighting terrorism. These issues are as important to freedom and vital to democracy NOW as they were two hundred years ago. Rhetorically, I called for the BURINING of the original manuscripts and the universal distribution of the words themselves in the form of CD ROMs. Don't honor the paper, folks! Fight to retain the principals the words describe!
Religious holidays--Christmas, Thanksgiving--are imposed. Others, like Easter, are routinely celebrated. Why shouldn't the federal government impose something like this that actually has something to do with the country? (Of course, there's Flag Day, Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veteran's Day, etc., so some might argue we do enough recognizing of our government and its deeds....)
The best "event" that I remember during the Constitution's bicentennial was a series of PBS television shows--sponsored by Annenberg, I think--on the constitution and society. Made up of panels of professionals from different fields, they discussed the positives and negatives of the Constitution in context. The overall effect was to demonstrate the importance of the document as a living, breathing social constitution, in the proper sense of the word. Quite inspiring. marilynd
GOOD! Constitution Day is more significant than all the rest of 'em put together. And, no, we don't need fetish objects rolled about like little Jagannaths. Interrupting drivelized curricula for a good solid week of instruction--every year--on the text of the Constitution would be meet right and salutary. But when the partisans got hold of it, all they'd do is fight. [For example, one oughtn't let some lobby horn in on the discussion of the Second Amendment--sheesh!] It's a good idea anyway.
Hopefully this will get people who argue about what the constitution says or doesn't say to actually read it first .
Exactly. And it might also put to rest those ugly rumors about the Constitution guaranteeing everyone the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. marilynd
Interesting. Won't happen. There is no time in the day for it due to No Child Left Behind legislation. Social studies is hardly taught, particularly at those schools that need it the most. Why? They're not tested in that subject on the state tests (yet). Tom Nixon
Re: Re: Schools told to hold Constitution Day Does anyone know why we're raising a generation of historical illiterates? Something must be done!
Re: Re: Schools told to hold Constitution Day Yes, I agree Mr. Nixon, due to no child left behind, teachers like my sister in law have to teach over crowded class rooms. To make matters worse, she has to teach children with severe disabilites, which takes away from the rest of the children. Of course, I have nothing against these children, but before No child left behind, these pupils were in a special class taught by experts for the disabled. And then, In California, we have the idiot "Terminator" as our Governor(Gropenator). He has not kept his campaign promises of pumping up the budget for schools. He has raised all kinds of community college fees and taxes! He will not serve another term! Just my two cents, Abner
Re: Re: Re: Schools told to hold Constitution Day Much of it has to do with the choices that politicians believe that the American public wants. If you want standardized testing, that's fine. But don't for a minute think that teachers won't be required to teach to the test. That will happen. Tom Nixon
Re: Re: Re: Schools told to hold Constitution Day I have mixed feelings about Arnold. I think he lied about his school funding -- and that needs to be remedied. I do think he needs to refocus on both teacher tenure issues as well as civil sevant pensions which are breaking the states backs. I would go with the Federal level which is more in line with reality (FED explained the federal pension system). We need the same - no civil employee deseves a 3%/50 pension that is 99% paid for by government money. That is simply ridicuous. (and is breaking our state apart). I also don't think a CO with a HS diploma should make more than a teacher (sure, it is a hard job, but a base of $70K with an average of $100K a year - come on folks - lets get real!)
Re: Re: Re: Re: Schools told to hold Constitution Day The governor's ideas regarding tenure for teachers are just plain stupid. No other way to describe it really. You want teachers to have to wait ten years for tenure? Significantly longer than college professors? I am unaware of any other profession that requires a probationary period of ten years. Umm, giving him the benefit of the doubt, he's gotten some really bad advice. This will create a teacher shortage in California like you will not believe. In that climate, I certainly would not become a teacher. Since it won't affect current teachers, it will do no good for the here and now. It would seem to make more sense to strengthen teacher training and require a longer internship. I'd like to see a move toward paid internships after student teaching. I would also stipulate that only teachers with at least 7 years experience be allowed to be master teachers for those internships (so we don't have the blind leading the blind). Tom Nixon
