From the SMCOE - [San Mateo County Office of Education]Note the word "must." We've already taken the money, so we (Aragon) must honor "Constitution Day" by planning activities related to teaching the Constitution. That's a de facto mandate but not technically a mandate since we could have turned down the money and not had the requirement. The AP textbook mushes those 2 things into one category. In past years, Mr. Coe has given an extended announcement about something related to the Constitution so to cover us in case some bureaucrat ever asks us about it.
A reminder that Friday, September 17, is Constitution Day and any public school that accepts federal funds must hold educational programs related to the U.S. Constitution. Several websites may be helpful to your staffs as they plan activities for Constitution Day:
http://www.cde.ca.gov/pd/ca/hs/hssconstitutionday.asp
http://www.constitutioncenter.org/
http://www.crf-usa.org/
Of course, the timing is simply terrible. Every Government teacher starts their semester with a unit on the Constitution which ends shortly before Constitution Day. I am not going to plan a lesson out of sequence because (now deceased) Senator Byrd had a Constitution fetish and got this provision into federal law. I am skeptical that there were all that many schools not teaching about the Constitution in the first place, but I am confident that I am doing my part to teach about the US Constitution. As is Mr. Coe, because otherwise he, as the Assistant Principal for Instruction, would be breaking the law. Egad!
4 comments:
Wow...very interesting. I've never heard of a day dedicated to teaching the Constitution. Although this "holiday" seems noble in cause, I have to agree that teaching the Constitution on September 17th is absurd. We don't teach kids about Columbus on Columbus Day even though we have school on that day (at least in our district). Although some may argue that Columbus Day isn't really a holiday, it's really a matter of opinion--do we think the discovery of our country is more important that the creation of our government? It is good to teach kids about how our government functions, but after spending two weeks on it (especially in this government class), transitioning units in the textbook, and then going back to something we already learned is, in my opinion, a complete waste of time. A casual five minute discussion on the topic should be at most mandatory as many kids, especially the seniors this year, have already learned the more important aspects of the Constitution throughout their years in school as history teachers generally a couple days every year teaching kids about how the Constitution works. The Constitution is undoubtedly an integral part of our lives, but making it obligatory to discuss it seems unnecessary as we could be learning new things instead of being a day behind in class.
In re:
"Although some may argue that Columbus Day isn't really a holiday, it's really a matter of opinion--do we think the discovery of our country is more important that the creation of our government?"
--
Columbus had guts and guns but never landed in North America proper and enslaved natives because the loot he had promised from Asia wasn't available. He's no hero to me and I don't understand why we have a holiday for him in the first place. European monarchs and aristocrats got extra-rich plundering the Americas because they brought military power to bear on the opportunity first.
OK, what's done is done, but not worthy of celebrating.
I find this requirement to be pretty ridiculous. How much can be taught about the Constitution in just one class period? Sure, the document itself is short. But its vagueness and gray areas make it all the more complicated to understand. Is it fair to teach students about the piece of writing that dictates our legal structure without mentioning all of the debates over its clauses and the way in which it has been changed over the years? Does one class period give enough time to explain all of the times the Supreme Court changed the interpretation of the wording or to give the background of all of the amendments? In my opinion, if a teacher is not in the position to teach the material fully on this one specific day, then it shouldn't be taught that day. And if students have already learned about the Constitution, as we have, a teacher should not be obligated to waste precious class time reteaching the material.
-Jessia Hoffman
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