|
Click on the "Home" star to go to the new version of this site. My bingo games are available as digital downloads for as little as $1.99! Patriotic and American History Downloadable Bingo Games for as little as $1.76 on bingoforpatriots.com It's my site that focuses on American history, First Principles & Patriotism My newest article: What Does Your Child Know About Thomas Jefferson? Subscribe to My Blog or read Past Articles about Patriotism, First Principles, and American history Patriotic American Bingo Games and American History Teaching Tools on this site
  Have an idea for a new bingo game? Email Me. St Patrick's Day Bingo and St. Patrick's Day Concentration Hats Off Games for Red Hatters Math Bingo, Money Bingo, and Accounting Bingo Games: Science and Nature Bingo Games Party Bingo Games for Adults and Children Halloween Bingo Games and Concentration Sets Christmas Bingo, Winter Bingo, and Holiday Games 4 Great Ways to Support Charity and Gift Giving through the Bingo For Charities Program! Like my bingo games! Link to this site! Sell my bingo games in your store Subscribe to My Blog about bingo, health , positive thinking, motivation, and more! Copyright © 1997 - 2012 Susan C. Rempel, Ph.D. All rights reserved. Small business owners: Dawn McCarroll at adwh.com is a fabulous IT resource. She is my IT department! Contact her at: dawn.mccarroll@adwh.com |
Another Article about Patriotism, First Principles, and American History Where's The Party? Is Thanksgiving
Fading From the Public School Curriculum? by Susan C. Rempel, Ph. D.
Did your child have a Halloween party this year? Of course,
right? Well, don’t be so sure there will be a feast, party, or
even a discussion prior to Thanksgiving at the same school this
year. What? That can’t be possible? Have a talk with your
child’s teacher, as well as other parents at the school, and you
may be in for a rude awakening. After a bit of research, I have
come to the conclusion that the celebration of Thanksgiving in
our schools is undergoing a fundamental transformation. As with
President’s Day, it is becoming a time that is more focused on
vacations and sales rather than an opportunity to educate our
young citizens about their common heritage and identity as
Americans.
When I was in elementary school, there were separate holidays to
celebrate the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham
Lincoln. Before each holiday, we spent time in class learning
about what each of those great men contributed to our country.
Whether it was coloring pictures in kindergarten, writing
stories in fifth grade, or composing an essay in high school, I
continued to learn more each year about why each man was
exceptional, and how each of them contributed to our exceptional
country. Slowly, over time, that pattern has changed. Most
schools celebrate “Presidents’ Day.” Prior to the holiday there
may be instruction about Washington and Lincoln, all of the
presidents, the office itself, or nothing at all. The lesson
that is connected to the holiday, if there is one, differs
between teachers, schools, and school districts. The school
district in which my children attend school incorporates the
holiday into a vacation period the district refers to as
“Presidents’ Recess”, but most parents refer to as “ski week.”
In my opinion, the holiday has little meaning, and there is a
minimal amount of time spent educating students about the
history that underlies it.
Could it be that the same type of transformation is happening to
Thanksgiving? The question occurred to me several weeks ago when
I was helping plan my third grader’s Halloween party. We
were discussing the parties that are scheduled throughout the
school year, and the room mother mentioned that there would be
no Thanksgiving party. I thought that was odd because my two
older children had feasts and parties all the way through 6th
grade. When my son was in kindergarten eight years ago, the
children dressed as Pilgrims and Native Americans, sat on the
floor feasting until their bellies were full, and learned about
William Bradford, Chief Massasoit, and Myles Standish. I
have served as the room parent for several of his classes, as
well those of my daughter who is now in the seventh grade. There
was no question that there would be a celebration in those
classes, and I was repeatedly astounded that someone was willing
to cook a turkey or other time consuming dish just a day or two
before cooking again in her (yes, most of the time it was a mom)
home. Although my third grade daughter had a party in
kindergarten and first grade, there was no Thanksgiving party in
her class last year. I believe there was instructional time
devoted to Thanksgiving, but I do not know what was taught. I
learned that this year’s fifth grade classes in her elementary
school, which study the colonial and revolutionary periods, will
have a joint party. My older children report that there will be
little, if any, celebration of Thanksgiving in their schools
this year. I began to wonder how Thanksgiving is
celebrated in other districts. Last week, I asked my Facebook
friends, as well as various groups I belong to on Linkedin,
about the Thanksgiving vacation schedule. I also asked if
Thanksgiving would be celebrated, and what was scheduled to
occur during the celebration. I was curious not only about what
was happening, but whether anyone noticed a change in the
instruction that students receive about the holiday. I was
surprised by several things that I learned. Yes, there are still
schools which hold traditional Thanksgiving celebrations, but
they are few and far between. Many schools are on vacation for
the entire Thanksgiving week. Some schools scheduled Monday,
Tuesday, and Wednesday as inclement weather days, other schools
will be on furlough, and still others have scheduled the time
off in much the same manner as our local school district’s
President’s Recess. The majority of responses had no additional
comments and provided only the requested information. Aside from
those residents of the State of Massachusetts (where it the
holiday still seems to be celebrated whole heartedly), I was
surprised at how many people responded that there would be no
party, and perhaps no discussion of Thanksgiving at all. If
there was to be some type of meal or feast, it would primarily
occur in kindergarten or first grade classes. One respondent
indicated that the feast had been transformed into a gathering
of forest animals rather than meal shared by the Pilgrims and
Native Americans. However, there were also several threads of
anger that ran through the responses. Several Native Descendants
were angered by the Pilgrim’s behavior toward the Native
Americans (e.g., stealing wheat, etc.), and one individual
referred to the celebratory meal as a “purported welfare
dinner.” Others were angered not only about changes in
Thanksgiving celebrations, but also how Christmas and other the
winter holidays are now dealt with by the public schools. One
respondent stated that the local school district prohibits
teachers from mentioning holidays other than President’s Day and
Martin Luther King Jr. Day because all other holidays may be
connected to a religion or culture that is not shared by all the
students. It seems that in a tacit effort to be politically
correct, public schools may be increasingly reluctant to discuss
Thanksgiving at all.
Next, I began to consider some of the negative comments and
publicity that has been attached to the Thanksgiving holiday. In
1970, the United American Indians of New England (UAINE)
declared Thanksgiving to be a day of mourning. There are many
examples of objections to elementary school children dressing in
costume for Thanksgiving. One particularly poignant example was
a 2008 conflict between kindergarten parents in Claremont, Ca.
For more than 40 years, children from two different elementary
schools had taken turns feasting at one another’s school while
dressing in costume. Eventually, the school district decided the
tradition could continue, so long as the costumes were
eliminated. There are endless websites devoted to disputing
various aspects of the Thanksgiving narrative including whether
the Pilgrims actually work black clothing, which year the meal
took place, the relationship between the Pilgrims and the Native
Americans, and the culture of the Wampanoag people themselves. What does this all mean? Before drawing any
conclusions, it is important to recognize that I have no way of
knowing if the responses I received are representative of the
practices at public schools as a whole. However, it is enough
information to suggest that each reader should take the time to
inquire exactly what is, or is not, being taught to his or her
own children. Will there be any discussion of the significance
of Thanksgiving? Will the students be made aware of the
historical events that the holiday commemorates? How will those
events be described? How will the Pilgrims be characterized? How
will the Thanksgiving meal be portrayed? Will historical events
be ignored in favor of an ahistorical forest animal feast, or
will the meal be ignored all together. Is it possible that
Thanksgiving may be written off as just another myth associated
with the founding of our country?
Why, you might ask, is it important for our school children to
learn about Thanksgiving at all? After all, No Child Left
Behind, as well as other state and federal programs, has heavily
shifted instructional minutes onto the subjects of math and
language arts. From my perspective, Thanksgiving is important
because it is the holiday celebrated during the school year that
is most directly tied to the subject of American History. That
subject has received a decreasing amount of instructional time
with each passing school year. Not only are our children not
being taught important facts about the history of their country,
but those facts are not being reinforced across the time of
their elementary and secondary education. When will they come to
understand the struggles of our Forefathers and Founders to
establish this nation, if they do not learn about them in
school?
Another question is whether the Thanksgiving meal will be yet
another American tradition that is dissected, demeaned,
devalued, and discarded? Why does Thanksgiving seem to be under
attack? It appears to me that the debunking and deconstruction
of American historical events, figures, and traditions unravels
the sense of identify and national unity once shared by most
Americans. America is an exceptional nation. Its citizens enjoy
individual liberties and freedoms not enjoyed elsewhere in the
world. However, there is an element within us that insists on
picking apart our leaders, our common history, and our
traditions. For example, although not connected to Thanksgiving,
I have read articles questioning whether Abraham Lincoln
actually wrote the Gettysburg Address on the back of an
envelope. Many of the “myth busting” type websites imply that is
not so, and I profess that I have not researched the subject.
However, the speech is memorable nonetheless. Short. Succinct.
Brilliant. Given at just the right moment in our nation’s
history. Isn’t that what we should focus on? Isn’t that what is
important? Is the speech any less significant because it might
have been written somewhere other than on the back of an
envelope? Could it be that the true underlying reason for such
an attack is to demean the character of one of our greatest
presidents? Picking apart the character of our leaders, or
events such as the Thanksgiving meal, undermines the pride we
feel for our country and diminishes our sense of a common
heritage. Interestingly, what is under attack are the actions of
Pilgrims and the Thanksgiving meal itself, but not the reason
that two presidents proclaimed national days of thanksgiving.
How would those who are unhappy with the commemoration of a
feast between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people react if
they were aware of what Washington and Lincoln wrote in their
proclamations?
The United States officially celebrated its first Thanksgiving
in 1789 after a proclamation by George Washington (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/GW/gw004.html).
Washington ordered a “day of public thanksgiving” to acknowledge
God’s favors upon the nation including the peaceful
establishment of a government for the citizens’ safety and
happiness, as well as “for the civil and religious liberty with
which we are blessed.” In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued a
proclamation instituting an annual day of thanksgiving in this
country. He also praised God for blessings bestowed upon the
nation even amidst the Civil War. He asked that the American
people “implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal
the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be
consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of
peace, harmony, tranquility, and union” (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=013/llsl013.db&recNum=764).
And in reality, isn’t that what Thanksgiving is really all
about? It is not about whether or not the Pilgrims wore black.
It is not what year the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people shared
a meal. It is the thanks that we should have that the Wampanoag
gave aid to the Pilgrims. It is the thanks we share that our
Founding Fathers sought to create a nation like none other. It
is the thanks we share as Americans that our nation has survived
a civil war, global conflicts, societal change and natural
disasters for more than 200 years. It is coming together to give
thanks for our past (imperfections and all), as well for what we
share with our family, our community, and our fellow citizens.
As for my children, we’ll be talking about Thanksgiving in the
time remaining until our holiday dinner on Thursday. We’ll
discuss who the Pilgrims were, and what their lives were like in
those first years after settling in a new land. We’ll focus on
facts and try to flesh out some of the people in historical
context. We will talk about the Wampanoag people, why they
were reluctant to interact with the Pilgrims, and how their
existence changed after settlements began to spring up across
their homeland. We will connect the generosity of those Native
Americans with the American tradition of giving to those in need
in times of trouble. We will remember that America would be a
different place if those settlers had not sought a new beginning
in the “New World,” and they might have perished if not for the
assistance of the indigenous population. We will also discuss
the presidential proclamations of Washington and Lincoln that
are so often ignored, and why these men thought it befitting to
thank God for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, at this late
date, the discussions will be rather limited. Next year, I will
take steps, and have materials ready, to deepen my children’s
understanding of and appreciation for this holiday. Happy
Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Follow me on Twitter: SusanRempel Like UnCommon Courtesy, on Facebook Visit www.uncommoncourtesy.com for educational products and a multitude of bingo games for holidays, education, religion, and parties. © Copyright 2011-2012 Susan C. Rempel, Ph.D. All rights reserved.
This article (including the copyright notice) may be reprinted with the following the following attachment: - begin attachment - Bingo Games, Motivational Material and More at www.UnCommonCourtesy.com! A multitude of holiday, religious, educational, and patriotic bingo games and concentration sets available . Bingo games for adults and children to play at home, school, church, corporate meetings, and just about anywhere you can imagine. Read Susan C Rempel, Ph.D.'s blog about Patriotism, First Principles, and American History. Follow Dr. Rempel on Twitter: SusanRempel
- end attachment - Don't see the Bingo Game that you are looking for? Email me, and I'll make it for you!
|
