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Show Civic and Character Education in Utah-A Connection to History and the Continuing Stewardship of All Citizens and Public Officials Representative LaVar Christensen in general. And yet, our goal is to keep the chain of political engagement in this Country unbroken. President John Quincy Adams stated on behalf of the first generation of successors to the Founding of our nation: "Since the adoption of this social compact one of these generations has passed away. It is the work of our forefathers...through a most eventful period in the annals of the world...We now receive it as a precious inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left us and by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits of their labors to transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding generation." (Hunt, 2003, p. 76). In 2003, Congress adopted and funded a national push for greater civic education in America's public schools. For the past three years, I have served as a delegate from Utah to the National Congressional Conference on Civic Education. (All 50 states are united in this five-year effort to elevate civic education throughout our nation). Senators Howard Stephenson, Chris Buttars and Karen Hale from the Legislative Branch, Chief Justice Christine Durham and Judge Judith Billings of the Judicial Branch and Ed Dalton from the State School Board have all joined in this effort. Kathy Dryer of Law Related Education Projects is our skilled and diligent State Coordinator. Alan Griffin of the State Office of Education leads a combined and well-coordinated effort to provide valuable training and support to our school teachers throughout the state. Together, we work with a large coalition of civic education and service learning leaders who are all dedicated to elevating civic education in grades K-16 in Utah. I have visited numerous classes and have spoken to hundreds of students to spread the message and meaning of good citizenship. It is something I am very passionate about. I love to be with the students and teachers and I never tire of or miss the chance to discuss with them the "blessings of liberty" secured by our Constitution. History is not a body of facts and figures simply to be memorized and then tested upon. It is a heritage and a legacy to be internalized and relied upon. I am inspired by the sheer reality of our history-the sobering recognition that every account is the story of how someone like you or me chose to live their life. I cannot help but think what it must have been like for the individual families of the heroic Minutemen of Lexington, Massachusetts on April 19,1775. I contemplate the thought of a small home where a candle is lit and a little girl is awakened in the night by the sound of shuffling in the hallway. A father goes to the closet and reaches for a coat and a musket. "Where are you going?" the little girl asks. "Back to bed, sweetheart," the father answers. "I'm just going down to the bridge. Some of the men in town are gathering there." "Why Dad?" asks the little girl. "Because the British are coming," says the brave father. "Are you coming back?" the little girl presses further. "Yes honey. All will be well. Now, back to sleep." At the bridge, Captain John Parker gathered the 130 Minutemen of Lexington. At dawn, a scout brought Captain Parker news that the British were close at hand. He immedi' ately turned to his drummer and ordered him to beat to arms. The men formed two lines on the common beside the road to Concord. Then, the scarlet red column of British soldiers approached. Captain Parker's immortal command is now carved in stone: "Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon; but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here!" Try as the men might to avoid a conflict, a pistol shot rang out and echoes unidentified through history as the "shot heard round the world" (McDowell, 1967, p. 38). Just a few weeks earlier, delegates to the Second Virginia Convention gathered at St. John's Church in Richmond Virginia. A tide of events was moving towards Independence but it was still a bold and almost unspeakable proposition-Patrick Henry, from Hanover County, rose from his seat in the third pew and respectfully noted that: "Different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful [if]...I shall speak forth my sentiments freely, and without reserve...Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself guilty of treason toward my country and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings" (Campbell, 1967, p.128). Continuing on, Henry declared, "I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging the future but by the past' (Campbell, p. 129). Then, he asked, plaintively, what was there in the conduct of the British ministry for the past 10 years that could possibly justify any further hope of peace and unity with England? Instead, he urged, "Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up at every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain...We have done everything that could be done to avert the storm, which is now coming on.. .If we wish to be free.. .we must fight! I repeat it, Sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!" (Campbell, 1969, pp. 129-30). To those who thought the idea of independence was unattainable, Henry replied, "They tell us, Sir, that we are weak- unable to cope with so formidable an adversary...Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, Sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us...There is no retreat, but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged, their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable-and let it come!! I repeat 92 |
