Singapore is Super Neato

Singapore is super neato.  In 2006 I stepped into that country as I entered Asia and had my mind totally blown.  This week's social studies method's reading reminded me of my short-circuited nerve synapses, especially in the Parker text's printing of the Singapore pledge of allegiance (p. 3-c):

We, the citizens of Singapore, 

pledge ourselves as one united people, 

regardless of race, language or religion, 

to build a democratic society based on justice and equality 

so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.

No wonder they have the best firework shows on earth!  Plus, the reading included how students there are guided to learning about all of the cultural groups that make-up their unique country in a way that cultivates with and unifies under respect while valuing diversity.  

It hasn't been until recently that I have really put lots of thought into how it is every teacher's responsibility to help students learn democratic values.  Also, in the social studies text, the incredible writer, James Baldwin, said that "if children are not educated to live democratically, they may well become apathetic or worse: They could become the next generation of people to commit a Holocaust such as the one in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s... Baldwin observed that the perpetrators of these crimes against humanity were very well educated and knew a great deal about reading, writing, literature, math and science, but in spite of their education, they could not live democratically" (p.62).

Although I feel like my own school education lacked way too much consideration of democratic values and thinking, I still was fortunate enough to have parents who modeled and discussed democratic values with me.  It baffles me when the people around me are less than passionate about what is happening in our society.  Because I didn't experience very much democracy in my schooling I am somewhat intimidated about teaching it myself, but I understand, intimidated or not, it is my responsibility because I know the importance of it.  I will do my best to help.  It helps me to know there is a lot out there, including people, that will support teaching democratic values, and, that I am so right, "Idiots were (are) citizens who paid no attention to the common good...They placed personal concerns far out in front of community concerns and, in this lethal act of imbalance, threatened the freedoms and rights they were so eager to enjoy" (p. 61).  I am excited to try to help catch-up to super neato Singapore.