Why We Fight

I have been meandering off the education path lately. I can't help it... some things are just too important not to write about. They are all tied together anyway. I had the opportunity to watch this documentary yesterday.

We are told on a regular basis that we fight with other countries to save "Freedom". We are told that this fighting is necessary in order to keep our way of life in the United States.

This documentary notes many instances in the past 60 years that have built up our military to insure that we are the only Super Power in the World. From the bombing of Japan with Nuclear Warheads to the invasion of Iraq to eliminate terrorism. These actions could have easily been avoided. Japan tried to surrender for 6 months prior to the U.S. dropping the bombs. We didn't listen. We wanted to show how powerful we could be. We wanted to put fear in everyones thoughts. America can't and won't be messed with.

On September 11, 2001 we were attacked by terrorists. Instead of informing the American people as to "why" we were attacked, our government just blamed it on the evil-doers. No explanation... just, the evil doers don't like us because of our freedoms. The American people bought it. There was no mention of past alliances and actions that the U.S. government had with these people. There was no mention about how "we" built up the Taliban to fight the Russians, then left Afghanistan in ruins.

For 60 years the U.S. Government has had 1 underlying plan... To be the one and only Super Power on this Planet, by any means possible. We attack any Country that may be gaining power in the world, under the false pretense that we are trying to help them.

I guess Countries like Sudan are not a threat.

Adding Darfur to the Curriculum

On a daily basis, I enjoy reading about what other teachers are doing in the classroom. A fellow Tweeter has, with another teacher, raised the bar in the classroom. Mr. Mayo has initiated a project to help spread awareness of the genocide taking place in Darfur. He is inviting students from around the world to participate. Many Voices for Darfur is designed to make it easy for students around the world to participate in the 48 hour blog project. Comments will open at midnight eastern Standard time on March 6, 2008. As of right now, there are 3 teachers on board... Mr. Mayo , Mrs. Drexler , and Mr. Moses.
Mr. Mayo and Mrs. Drexler initiated the project with their third and eighth grade students.
A wiki has been created to help spread the word and organize thoughts. The wiki is quite informative, including resources and del.icio.us links to browse.

Relevance...

Being that our own Government has overlooked this crisis in the Sudan Region of Darfur, it is refreshing to see that there are teachers attacking the subject.


Google Earth image of Destroyed Villages in the Darfur Region

It's great to know that there are teachers spreading the word in a meaningful way. Our Government doesn't seem to care about the crisis, but it seems as though some teachers and students will let the world know.