I could not be happier if both of you were absolutely right, so don't really want to get into a fight about the American spirit. My observations come mostly from the Rustbelt--maybe that is not Heartland enough. But LGF just posted the following about kids not being allowed to wear the American flag to school, so that the school will not have to disciminate between which flags it is ok to wear and which not--and if Sampson County NC isn't the heartland, I don't know what is: [url=http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0027.html]http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0027.html[/url]. Even if, as I hope is the case, there are outraged parents, the fact of the matter is these kids are being taught by people who don't have a clue--so what will they learn? Allow me one further anecdote to support my point that there is a lack of understanding of the moral foundations of American liberal democracy. In a class of 60 college kids I am currently teaching, NOT ONE had ever read the Declaration of Independence. (I started out asking who had ever been asked to memorize any part of it. . .silly me.) These are students from all the schools of my university, which is not on located either coast--nor does it have a particularly liberal/left student body. IF we still had that noteworthy spirit of '76, I don't think we'd be facing quite the same problem we are facing. But hey, I've been wrong before, and would not mind being wrong on this point.
Dear KL and Sister T:
I could not be happier if both of you were absolutely right, so don't really want to get into a fight about the American spirit. My observations come mostly from the Rustbelt--maybe that is not Heartland enough. But LGF just posted the following about kids not being allowed to wear the American flag to school, so that the school will not have to disciminate between which flags it is ok to wear and which not--and if Sampson County NC isn't the heartland, I don't know what is: [url=http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0027.html]http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2007-09-11-0027.html[/url]. Even if, as I hope is the case, there are outraged parents, the fact of the matter is these kids are being taught by people who don't have a clue--so what will they learn? Allow me one further anecdote to support my point that there is a lack of understanding of the moral foundations of American liberal democracy. In a class of 60 college kids I am currently teaching, NOT ONE had ever read the Declaration of Independence. (I started out asking who had ever been asked to memorize any part of it. . .silly me.) These are students from all the schools of my university, which is not on located either coast--nor does it have a particularly liberal/left student body. IF we still had that noteworthy spirit of '76, I don't think we'd be facing quite the same problem we are facing. But hey, I've been wrong before, and would not mind being wrong on this point.