July 5. 2010. It is the day after Independence Day.  I am reminded of the film starring Will Smith in which aliens fly monster spaceships over major cities to colonize Earth. I would not have even thought of the movie if I hadn’t been thinking that our nation’s notion of Independence Day seems to be more about what we do to entertain rather than educate ourselves.

July 4. 2010. 6:00 p.m. I go to a hometown celebration of Independence Day with the simple goal of connecting with family and community members from a long time past.  Some might say this annual celebration has the makings of the best of current day America’s annual birthday party – country music, beach music, gospel music, civic booths with every 4^th of  July “fast food” delicacy that a heart can desire or ill afford, and spontaneous line dancing by friends, relatives and acquaintances from all sides of the tracks. The crowd on the baseball field settles into lawn chairs, bracing their backs with umbrellas against the languor of a Deep South settling sun.  A toddler in her sundress of red, white, and blue twirls in front of the stage, mirroring what appeared to be requisite clothing of the senior citizens, tee-shirted, capped, and swathed in red, white, and blue.  Nearby, folks of different hues stand and chat about the weather, the gosh-awful oil mess in the Gulf, and the cost of fireworks that are expected to last longer than ever before- despite the tough economy of one of the poorest counties in the state.

July 4. 2010. 9:15 p.m. I wait with this former community of mine, along with Americans across the country, in big cities and small towns, farm fields and parklands. Twilight slips into night, and we all anticipate the first burst of flaring color to wrap us in a patriotic moment in time. The explosives begin to the accompaniment of America’s music-  “1812 Overture”, “the Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “America the Beautiful”, “This Land is Your Land”, “God Bless the USA”,  “Rockin’ in the Free World.”  Generations gather together to honor an assembly of radical thinkers who believed it was the colonies’ time to declare for freedom from tyranny, from unjust rule, from a king who believed he ruled because of divine power, rather than rule derived from the will of the people.  But, there’s one problem. The boom of fireworks and the cheers that accompany each spray of color drown out the words of the Declaration, the words of the music.

I sit in my lounge chair and watch the faces and cameras upturned to capture the fireworks moment. I wonder about the question I asked my son two years ago as part of a July 4 post, “After all the years of learning U.S. history-the textbooks you’ve read, the lectures you’ve heard, the six state-required multiple choice tests on Virginia history, U.S, History I and II, Civics, AP History, and U.S. Government, what’s freedom really mean to you?”  His reply? “Actually, it became most real last semester in Spain-you know, you can’t even publish a cartoon critical of the monarchy there.  Insulting the king is illegal.”

July 5.2010.9:15 p.m. Despite our teaching generations about how “We the People” came to be, I wonder the degree to which we suffer from the phenomenon of “I taught it, but they didn’t learn it.”  How many of the people sitting here tonight actually understand why the Boston Tea Party occurred and how that first Tea Party differs from the tea party movement in the news today?  Why did Texas legislators miss the intense and brilliant philosophical debates of our founding fathers that set the stage for Thomas Jefferson to craft the Declaration of Independence and espouse religious liberty as one of many freedoms? Why did Jefferson espouse freedom from “kings, nobles, and priests”? (Jefferson, 1786, August 13 to George Wythe) Why can’t generations of citizens identify Great Britain (Curriculum Matters, EdWeek) as the nation from whom we declared our independence?  How did we become disconnected from the idea that the United States of America was created by immigrants and the children of immigrants; many of whom came here voluntarily as well as some who did not? Why did knowledge that successive waves of people from all walks of life journeyed to our shores, seeking freedom and fortune, get lost in the resentments of nativists such as those who once resented nineteenth century Irish immigrants (NYC Tenement Museum)?

Jefferson understood the power of an educated populace. I suspect he would welcome our young women and children of color into our schools today despite his unfortunate and limiting prejudices of the time. I imagine he would advocate for new learning technologies while asserting the importance of knowledge in all disciplines, including languages, science, history, mathematics, literature and the arts. I believe he would be appalled to think that the general populace could not describe the basic tenets of freedom outlined by the founding fathers who received the main credit for conceiving our independence in conjunction with a few founding mothers who did not.

Images of the dancing toddler and friends and neighbors chatting capture the best of communities gathered to celebrate with each other; a ritual that began with the earliest of tribes.  However, I also am left with a sense that the occasion of this nation’s birthday gets lost amidst beach vacations, July 4th sales events, and our beloved fireworks displays. How many of us take the time each year to read or listen to our Declaration of Independence – and reflect deeply upon the self evident truths and ‘unalienable’ rights which we oft take for granted.

I have learned in life that that to go to school is not the same as to be educated.  Mr. Jefferson knew that a foundation of public education was essential to our continued independence and freedom. Freedom is an expression of the concept of ‘unalienable’ rights and Independence Day is not a movie full of aliens.

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

T. Jefferson to Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816.

No related posts.

• Previous Entry: Lives well lived, as well as facts well learned
• Next Entry: An incredibly important speech on education by Diane Ravitch