America? What's So Great About It Anyway?
On occasion when I read some of the letters to the editor in the Minneapolis Star Tribune I'm left speechless. Here's an example from yesterday's paper:
In response to Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke's claim in her Oct. 19 Op Ex commentary that students 'should know about a great nation,' I must take issue. As a social studies teacher I would suggest that we teach students the facts of history (without a political or ideological slant) and allow them the right to determine the greatness of our nation.
Sadly these standards, supported by Yecke, will do little more than promote cultural arrogance, while disenfranchising many students.
God forbid that I should question anyone's patriotism or stifle their right to dissent but since when is teaching children that America is a great country such an offensive idea? Of course we should teach students the facts of history without an ideological slant (what are the chances that this letter writer actually practices what he preaches?) but the notion that promoting American values and teaching that we have a great nation is "cultural arrogance" is ludicrous.
Our children need to be aware of the history and values of our country that make us a unique, and yes, even great nation. Not all nations and not all cultures are equal, no matter how much you might wish it so. Today when our country (and Western civilization itself) is engaged in a struggle against an ideology that seeks to destroy the United States and all that it represents, there is no room for cultural relativism in the classroom.
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