The Unknown Holiday
Quick! Why is September 17th important?
No, it’s not your hamster’s birthday or the day grandma decided to wear her housecoat to the grocery store.
Actually, I would argue that this is the most important holiday (federal observance according to Congress)…. Constitution Day. The day when our current Constitution was signed in 1787, launching the longest in use constitution in the world. And why does not one remember this? Because we are horrible Americans.
In 2004 Senator Robert Byrd added an amendment to the Omnibus Spending Bill recognizing September 17th as a federal observance. Since the passing, most states have also written their own laws requiring schools to teach about the Constitution on September 17th (September 16th if the 17th falls on a Saturday and the 18th if it falls on a Sunday).
However, what school actually observes? Not any school that I have taught in. So sad! I feel tears forming.
How can we not teach our children about the start of our government system? We celebrate the “birth” of our county on July 4th but drinking copious amounts of alcohol and playing with fire. And that date really was just symbolic. It didn’t really matter in a true sense. The British didn’t receive the Declaration of Independence and automatically let us be independent. It took years of fighting, the creation of a unworkable government (the amazingly short-lived Articles of Confederation, the awesome “League of Friendship”), and the later Unicorn War (isn’t this a much better name for the War of 1812?). In between all that, we finally got around to writing a decent plan of government. That was the real birth of our country. And what do we do to celebrate it? Nothing. And the celebration is even mandated by law if you’re in K-12 education.
The eyars before I had observed Constitution Day within my own classes, teaching some lesson that connected the often misunderstood legal laguage of the docement wth the importantce of said language to our everyday lives. I tried to make the Constitution relevan and valuable. But it a student wasn’t in my class, they probably never heard about it.
So last year, I fought to rectify this situation, at least in my little sphere of influence. I approached my supervisors about having some kind of all school assembly. When I said that we should do something for September 17th, they looked at me blankly. Then I mentioned that it’s Constitution Day, again blank looks. Then I casually mentioned that we are required to teach about the Constitution on that day. This finally elicited some recognition. Somehow in the course of this conversation, I became the head of an all school assembly dealing with the Constitution. Really I just wanted to see what the other teachers were doing for the day, but whatever, I’ll take it.
So I had basically 5 days to through together something memorable, exciting, and educational. Whew! How do I get myself into these situations? Because I care, that’s why.
I had this idea of recreating the Constitutional Convention. have students play delegates, highlighting the main parts of the Convention. Recongize the Virgnia Plan, the New Jersey Plan, the compromises, the wording, and eventually the signing. I thought it would be a creative way for students to get involved. They wouldn’t just be listening to me talk, but be active participants. So I told my senior government class that they would be heading the project. Some could make Constitution mock-ups, some write the script, some design the set-up. Of course, being seniors, they dropped the ball, but we managed to throw something together by the date.
At 8:10 am on September 17th, the entire school filed into the gym. I had it set up so that each state had one or two seniors as representatives. To fill the delegate tables, each senior grabbed two or three younger students to sit with them and join in the discussion. I acted as moderator or if you will President of the Convention. basically I became referee and prompter, introducing the convention topics or supplying ideas when the student’s couldn’t remember their lines. We discussing the competing plans and create a compromise. We briefly debated a ban on slavery. We highlighted the basic duties of the three branches of government. We expressed our hope for continued citizen involvement. We hoped it would last, but wrote in ways to modify in the future. At the end of the “convention,” we invited everyone to “sign” the Constitution. These Constitutions were then hung in the school lobby for visitors to observe.
Overall, it was a good acitivty. My supervisors loved the creativity. The parents who came like the assembly and some even expressed that they learned something. Many students enoyed the nonlecture nature of the assembly. I liked sharing the Constitution with everyone.
So we have successfully followed the law and observed Constitution Day. It was an enjoyable day. Unfortunately it was the only time I’ve seen a good observance of Constitution Day. Although I have heard of interesting activities, many schools somehow forget about this requirement. It’s almost like we collectively don’t care about the Constitution. So sad! Shouldn’t we be celebrating and learning about the birth of our country? I hope so, but I have been disappointed before.
If you are an educator, a student, a parent, or just a concerned citizen, there are many sites on the web that can help offer activity ideas for the celebration of Constitution Day. My suggestions:
http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/Teach/freeResources/ConstitutionDay
http://constitutioncenter.org/ncc_progs_constitution_day.aspx
Leave a Reply