Editor:
The recent controversy over the Confederate flag can be a great opportunity for our schools to restore truth in history education. The flag some think is being banned has a very interesting history and never stood for what is alleged. The controversy points out the failure of our nation's school system to educate us on our true history. The period in our history that covers the flag in question has been mostly ignored, misrepresented, even lied about, leaving most ignorant of our country's true history.
This has resulted in the flag controversy and much of our recent political unrest.
You've heard, ignorance is bliss? No, it is a curse. The national problems we face today are under the curse of our ignorance of our true history. Our schools can begin to change that by examining our full and true history. What is the origin and uses of the confederate flag? What was its relationship to the Civil War? What was the Civil War really over? It was not what we have been told in the school textbooks of recent decades. What affect did it have on the Constitution and our current governing system? What connection did it have to the western states being overrun with unconstitutional federal land ownerships, while the east is not? When we don't know our history, we are destined to repeat it, and we are right on track with current events. Will our local students have a vision of where they are going? If they don't know where they have been, it will be hard for them to know where to go. Our community and schools can use this minor issue as a wake-up call to learn our history. Then when concerns arise, they can be dealt with by an educated and informed public, not believing in superstitions and folk tales and half-truths. Our schools can be a model of good education, and our students would be head and shoulders above all other schools in the state and nation. Just maybe we can have some hope for a brighter future.
Dexter Gill
Lewis
