WARNING!!!: This is a soap box post. If you wish to not listen to a rant in favor of the importance of Social Studies to our country and in our schools do not read any further.
DISCLAIMER: I am a staunch supporter of our troops, every day, period.
As I watched the news and coverage of the Fourth of July, I felt a frustration with our country. As I stated in my disclaimer I am a supporter of our military and the amazingly courageous men and women who choose to be a part of it. I see the positives it offers to so many and, as a student and teacher of history, the impact it has had on our nation. I think they should be applauded every day and am happy that we honor them on Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. However, the Fourth of July is not about America's military regardless of how neat it is to hear a canon in the 1812 Overture. Oh but Kim, it is about America's freedoms that our brave military has made sure we keep repeatedly and our fight for independence that our military won! No it is not. While both of those things are true and we should all be grateful for them, the Fourth of July is not about that. Granted without a military victory, made up of a very ragtag continental army led by an amazing French strategist and an American hero who never truly had a standout victory and various part-time militias, we wouldn't celebrate it like we do, it is not what the holiday honors. If it were we would celebrate October 19 (last major battle of the Revolution) or September 3 (day Treaty of Paris was signed). I also truly don't believe that that American hero would want it to be about the military because he understood the true focus. Remember, this is the same man who disbanded the army as soon as the war was won and promptly retired from public life (didn't last as we well know).
The Fourth of July is not about the freedoms. It is not about our victory in the Revolution. It is about a group of fifty six courageous men who committed treason. It is about men who dared to stand against the most powerful nation in the world because it was wrong and oppressive. Men who brazenly declared their leader a tyrant and their obligation to rise up and remove him to the world. They recognized that it was a nation that was restricting their freedoms and that they had lost true representation to have their voices heard. It was about making a decision in which there was no turning back, either they gain independence or die. It was about men who dared to take a chance on a form of government only written about. A type of government that they had no example to go off of and that had never been attempted in the world. A government that would never have survived had many of these same men not been able to swallow their pride just eleven years later, admit failure, and reorganize the nation through the Constitution. It is about their sacrifices.
Not all these men signed the Declaration and went on to live happy lives like Adams or Jefferson. Some went on to fight and die in the War for Independence, some had their houses and property destroyed by the British, and some were captured, tortured, and killed for their actions. Fourth of July should be a time in which we reflect on our nation's history, making sure our nation today is something deserving of their risks. We live in a country where more people can name characters in a TV show than can name the Bill of Rights or even the unalienable rights in the Declaration. Instead of the 1812 Overture why isn't the Declaration and Constitution read? Why isn't it a day taken to remember the history of our nation rather than use military men and women to distract the rest of us from realizing what our country has become? Is it because as a country as a people we are so far from what our Founding Fathers hoped we would be? Is it because we wish to ignore that reality through distraction? Are fireworks and military pomp and circumstance a truly appropriate way to commemorate them?
Social Studies is often seen in our country as expendable in education. After all isn't History just the easy subject the coaches who just want to coach teach? The reality is the Fourth of July is a prime example of why Social Studies is so essential to the future of our nation. The Fourth of July is about history, civics, and government. It is about understanding who those men were, why they did what they did, and why it changed not just our country but the world. To know why they felt they had no other choice but to overthrow their government. It is about what the basis of our nation requires of every citizen to ensure its continued greatness. Instead of dealing with the reality that we are ALL obligated to be informed of our rights and our constitution as American citizens, we focus on those citizens who have chosen the responsibility of protecting our freedoms and country. Honestly, why all the fuss about rights or freedoms the majority of America doesn't even take the time to learn? About a history that most learn once and forget. Why do we as a people tolerate these distractions? Is it because we don't know or just don't care? Is our accepted ignorance a respectful way to memorialize those men and all they did? Is it worth our military sacrifices?
Take a second: Can you name 5 out of 6 of the characters from Friends? Can you name the 5 freedoms protected by the first amendment? Bonus: can you name the 6th Friend? What about naming any of the other 9 amendments in the Bill of Rights other than the 2nd or the 5th? . . .
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