July 08, 2005

Years from Now

will it be confusing to schoolchildren that on 7/4 they are supposed to celebrate our liberation from the wicked English, and on 7/7 they are supposed to feel bad that some people living in England were killed?

"The ones we killed in the 1770s were bad Englishmen. The ones that got killed in 2005 were good Englishmen. The ones that burned the first White House in 1812 were very bad Englishmen indeed. The ones that oppressed the Irish . . . can you guess? I'll bet you know the answer to that one, right?"

I hope my kids grow up fast enough that I can bring some nuance into the discussion. I'm especially looking forward to explaining "blowback" as it relates to international diplomacy. The discussion of the Hitler-Stalin pact will be fun. My daughter will learn to block out the sound of my voice, just as I blocked out my own mother's voice as she discussed mathematical principles.

Posted by: Attila at 01:15 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 If you cannot spell out for your children that Britain can be right on some issues and wrong another day and another issue, than perhaps you're lazy. It is tempting indeed to cop out and just teach simple platitudes, for instance: Ford is good and Chevy sucks. Life is more far more interesting than that and you have the responsibility to analyze issues thoroughly for your children.

Posted by: Daniel at July 13, 2005 08:17 AM (2hSwl)

2 Oh, I will. I'm just engaged in a little light-hearted self-mockery. You must realize that I don't yet have a child, so this a little bit abstract to me at the moment. Sorry my jokes are falling short!

Posted by: Attila Girl at July 13, 2005 08:52 AM (RGWNz)

3 I'm sorry I didn't catch your drift...I tend to be way to serious.

Posted by: Daniel at July 13, 2005 08:24 PM (nNgvA)

4 Do you live in New York?

Posted by: Daniel at July 13, 2005 08:29 PM (nNgvA)

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