I'll certainly agree with you that basing a curriculum on the pledge is
interesting (it caught my eye anyway.) I like the way you use it as a
resource to dig into all sorts of concepts that normally remain uninspected.
>Look at all the interesting concepts there. What is a pledge? What
>is allegiance? What is a flag and what does it mean to stand for
>something, especially to "stand for" a republic? What is a republic?
>What is a nation and what does it mean for it to be indivisible?
>What does under God mean? Liberty? Justice? What does it mean
>to have liberty and justice for all? Who is the all?
There is one risk in that treatment however. My feeling is that the
pledge of allegiance doesn't really function as a set of abstract
statements, but rather as an icon that serves to congeal various aspects
of the local socio-historical context in which it is used. It is
important to have this perspective as well because it is more
representative of how it functions in everyday life.
For example, today the pledge is seen with ambivalence at best. That
certainly wasn't the case during World War II and the early part of the
"Cold War." Can we understand the "Cold War" as the "spilling over" of
World War II nationalism into a period of peace? What might be the
Russian icon(s) that corresponds to the pledge? How has that icon(s)
been transformed in time? How can both icons be unpacked to reveal the
nations in their respective history?
I think it is also important to avoid "intellectualizing" such matters
too much. The pledge is not some ahistorical, disembodied, abstract set
of principles; it is the expression of a nation, a people. It is a
shared artifact with the very same people who fought the civil war, the
men who remain entombed inside the Arizona. Any proper treatment of the
pledge requires the participants think with their mind *and* feel with
their heart. It is the latter category where much of the curriculum is
sorely wanting.
Edouard
. - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - .
: Edouard Lagache :
: lagache who-is-at violet.berkeley.edu :
:..................................................................:
: It is in times of difficulty that great nations, like great men, :
: display the whole energy of their character and become an object :
: of admiration to posterity. :
: Napoleon, _Maxims_, 1804-1815 :
. - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - .