This is why you do not leave most things in the hands of the general public. First of all, in a couple of decades 'Drew Brees', 'Bruce Lee', or 'John Cena' are going to be about as relevant to people then as 'Fran Tarkenton', 'Roy Rogers', or 'Michael (Eddie) Edwards' are to people today. As for the other two "suggestions", that's just fools being fools.
Secondly, there is nothing wrong with Robert E. Lee Elementary School. He was a famous American; a graduate of West Point who acted in accordance with his conscience when it drove him to decide in favor of following his home state (Virginia) when it seceded, and is at least as worthy of being honored by having a building, park, or other public ediface named after him as any other general or politician that had come before or since. But because he fought on what has, some 150 years later, been determined to be the "wrong" side the social justice warriors have decided that he is to be cast onto the refuse heap of history.
So maybe we should honor those who are doing so much to make sure that our precious little snowflakes will never have to contend with such a horror as a school named after a Civil War general again, and name it something like "Bleeding Hearts Elementary".
I agree with Anonymous above, and for much the same reasons.
But even if we could completely, totally, and permanently eradicate all reference and mention to anyone or anything having to do with the Confederacy or the War of the Rebellion (the 'official' name given to the Civil War by the side that ended up winning it) and never, ever mention it again, consider this. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
Perhaps schools, statues, etc. should be named for characteristics that we should have such as integrity, courage, hope, kindness and enlightenment. Or flora and fauna.
I'm with the flora or fauna suggestion. As for the institutions named for defenders of those who fought to own humans, well, would you want to go to school as a kid named for someone who wanted to enslave everyone who looked like you? Pretty sure if the shoe was on the other foot some of those who defend the practice might soften their hearts.
And for the easily riled, no one is saying ignore history, what I'm saying is perhaps take into account the emotions of those who have to enter the building five days a week for the next six years of their life.
RE Lee took an oath to the country and the constitution. He broke that oath and made war on he U.S. As enshrined in the individual confederate states and the Confederate States of America slavery was to be kept legal. Being a traitor is why there isn't any Benedict Arnold Middle Schools either.
I haven't heard of any elementary schools named after King George III, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor Hirohito, or Isoroku Yamamoto. Let alone Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini. Or Saddam Hussein. Or Osama Bin Laden. That's why nobody knows about the American Revolution, World War I, World War II, the war in Iraq, or the war in Afghanistan. Because, obviously, the only way to learn about American history is to have schools named after, and statues of, those who sought to destroy it.
13 comments:
This is why you do not leave most things in the hands of the general public. First of all, in a couple of decades 'Drew Brees', 'Bruce Lee', or 'John Cena' are going to be about as relevant to people then as 'Fran Tarkenton', 'Roy Rogers', or 'Michael (Eddie) Edwards' are to people today. As for the other two "suggestions", that's just fools being fools.
Secondly, there is nothing wrong with Robert E. Lee Elementary School. He was a famous American; a graduate of West Point who acted in accordance with his conscience when it drove him to decide in favor of following his home state (Virginia) when it seceded, and is at least as worthy of being honored by having a building, park, or other public ediface named after him as any other general or politician that had come before or since. But because he fought on what has, some 150 years later, been determined to be the "wrong" side the social justice warriors have decided that he is to be cast onto the refuse heap of history.
So maybe we should honor those who are doing so much to make sure that our precious little snowflakes will never have to contend with such a horror as a school named after a Civil War general again, and name it something like "Bleeding Hearts Elementary".
-"BB"-
Germany doesn't make Jewish children, or any children, attend Hermann Göring elementary school.
I agree with Anonymous above, and for much the same reasons.
But even if we could completely, totally, and permanently eradicate all reference and mention to anyone or anything having to do with the Confederacy or the War of the Rebellion (the 'official' name given to the Civil War by the side that ended up winning it) and never, ever mention it again, consider this. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.
-"BB"-
Perhaps schools, statues, etc. should be named for characteristics that we should have such as integrity, courage, hope, kindness and enlightenment. Or flora and fauna.
I'm with the flora or fauna suggestion. As for the institutions named for defenders of those who fought to own humans, well, would you want to go to school as a kid named for someone who wanted to enslave everyone who looked like you? Pretty sure if the shoe was on the other foot some of those who defend the practice might soften their hearts.
And for the easily riled, no one is saying ignore history, what I'm saying is perhaps take into account the emotions of those who have to enter the building five days a week for the next six years of their life.
Well said.
Perfect comment.
Yet you are happy to speak the language of your former oppressors ... the British people who owned slaves long before America became white.
People do not get to choose who their ancestors are, nor do we get to choose which language to learn first. Naming schools is a choice made by adults.
RE Lee took an oath to the country and the constitution. He broke that oath and made war on he U.S. As enshrined in the individual confederate states and the Confederate States of America slavery was to be kept legal.
Being a traitor is why there isn't any Benedict Arnold Middle Schools either.
King George the Third isn't venerated in the United States.. No Gage, Howe or Cornwallis statues or schools either.
I haven't heard of any elementary schools named after King George III, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Emperor Hirohito, or Isoroku Yamamoto. Let alone Adolf Hitler or Benito Mussolini. Or Saddam Hussein. Or Osama Bin Laden. That's why nobody knows about the American Revolution, World War I, World War II, the war in Iraq, or the war in Afghanistan. Because, obviously, the only way to learn about American history is to have schools named after, and statues of, those who sought to destroy it.
"he fought on what has, some 150 years later, been determined to be the "wrong" side"… Methinks you disagree with this assessment?
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