Einstein, Emerson, Twain, Samuel Johnson, and King.

[barbara100 at jps.net]

PATRIOTISM IN SCHOOLS?

By Jim Shackelford



There was a time when racism and sexism were part of the curriculum in many
schools. Boys go to this class, girls to that one. Separate, but not equal.
Whites in that school, blacks attend this one, a place with one-tenth the
resources. Some blacks ended the pledge to the flag this way: "...With
liberty and justice for all white people."

Militarism and war, two allies of sexism and racism, have befriended schools
the last two months. Other members of their gang include poverty and greed.
It's a deadly gang, but one that still gets plenty of support in the world.

Because they are transparently stupid and cruel, militarism and war must
travel always with patriotism. Patriotism offers beautiful melodies, bright
colors, smiling faces, and apple pie smells. It's all about pride and love,
right?

Or is it? Does patriotism bring forward the words of true leaders in a
country's history? Albert Einstein might say it doesn't. "To my mind, to
kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder." How many
teachers are doing Martin Luther King lessons at the moment? "War is a poor
chisel to carve out tomorrows," he advised.

How does patriotism teach literature? "Patriotism is the last refuge of the
scoundrel," in the opinion of author Samuel Johnson. His work may not be
getting much attention in British schools this week. Patriotism teaches
selective truth, where it bothers to opt for truth. Could it allow a lesson
on Ralph Waldo Emerson? "When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the
top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and the
purity of its heart."

Will the stars and stripes suggest that students read Born On The Fourth of
July, by Ron Kovic? This veteran's story might stir up the idea that war and
patriotic feelings are not to be respected. Should we take Mark Twain out of
schools for a while? "Talking of patriotism, what humbug it is; it is a word
which always commemorates a robbery. There isn't a foot of land in the world
which doesn't represent the ousting and re-ousting of a long line of
successive owners."

Patriotism has no integrity. It says that bombing New York and Washington is
a bad thing (very true), but other nations are fair targets.

It's not a nature lover. When does it mention such gems as Yosemite or the
Everglades? Iraq and Afghanistan know how much it treasures fragile arid
ecosystems.

 "Oh, but what about all the people using patriotism to raise money for New
Yorkers?" some might ask. This means we wouldn't give money to New Yorkers
if flags weren't involved?

Red, white and blue expression is viewed as personal speech. Indeed, people
display the colors for different reasons. To Washington, these comprise a
unified message, saying, "Go ahead. We may not trust you on many domestic
matters, but on war and security, do the amount of killing that feels right.
Just give us articulate spokespeople to make it sound noble, pragmatic and
strong."

Every person abhors war deep down, and understands that it's the ultimate
act of fear and terrorism. We must push patriotism hard at each other,
continuously, if war is to seem palatable.

The only ones to benefit from war are a few bank accounts. War is murder
times a thousand, or million, sixty million in the case of World War II.
Patriotism is there to distract us from the deaths, encouraging newspapers,
for instance, to downplay the numbers of people nearing starvation since
U.S. bombing created more refugees and interfered with aid efforts in
Afghanistan.

Lest we question the belief that war brings peace and justice, patriotism is
faithfully present to question our love of country. Anyone who loves
countries -- and that's all of us -- must be opposed to patriotism and war.
If I fall into patriotism, that's when I must ask what happened to my love
of country and people.

If I am a teacher, principal, or any other, and I find myself promoting
patriotism at school, I must ask what happened to my love of learning and
young people. Young people ask what war is about, and generally ask
intelligent questions. "Why is it okay to kill people in Afghanistan but not
in our school?" the human mind wonders.

Intelligent answers to that question are not being encouraged at the moment,
because adults would have to admit and correct huge mistakes. Sadly,
admitting and correcting the largest mistakes is not yet the focus of most
adults. If it were, the world would quickly be rid of land mines, bombs,
Ritalin, "don't talk back," moms and dads who get paid seven dollars an
hour, and all the terrible things that hurt and confuse youth.

While young people know how wrong war is, they don't usually know enough
about Pakistan or Russia to readily sort out truth from fiction in the news.
If trusted adults tell them that the White House, State Department and CIA
are doing just what the people in Afghanistan need, they are often poorly
positioned to question this.

We now have more to do than stop this latest escalation of war. We must go
into schools, take down the flags, and tell students that we have
manipulated them. We have worked to get them to abandon their innate sense
of right and wrong and go along with our fears and destructive trends. They
have been asked to give dollars to children abroad, when we know darn well
that we spend three hundred billion dollars a year to prepare for more
destruction of land and people.

We must ask for their forgiveness, which they will give in time. And we need
to begin to engage every mind, regardless of age, in the complex task of
building a world where people, honesty, adequate food, resource conservation
and other good things are firmly embedded in our lives as top priorities.

Jim Shackelford November 11, 2001