Each year, Texas public school students learn the story of their state’s origin: the battle for the Alamo. The story has become a rallying cry throughout the ages for Texans, and Americans – It’s an underdog tale of sacrifice. But, it’s also not very historically accurate. In the series finale, Grace explores the danger of teaching myths as though they’re fact.
Each year, Texas public school students learn the story of their state’s origin: the battle for the Alamo. The story has become a rallying cry throughout the ages for Texans, and Americans – It’s an underdog tale of sacrifice. But, it’s also not very historically accurate. In the series finale, Grace explores the danger of teaching myths as though they’re fact.
Teaching Texas is a new audio documentary from Wonder Media Network that uncovers the surprising history behind America’s latest culture war.
WMN on Twitter: @wmnmedia
Grace Lynch on Twitter: @gracelynch08
Teaching Texas
Chapter 8: How We See Ourselves
Transcript
GRACE:
The great American writer John Steinbeck wrote in his book Travels with Charley: “I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique, closely approximating a religion.”
As an outsider to Texas, I can’t think of a quote that more eloquently captures what I’ve observed and admired about the state. I love the bravado of the people in Texas. The, dare I say, swagger that seemingly stems from being Texan. The allegiance to the state does seem to resemble a religion.
I found that Steinbeck quote in the opening to a new, controversial book called, Forget the Alamo. It’s written by Jason Stanford, Chris Tomlinson and Bryan Burrough. And it challenges the Texas origin story – the long beloved tale of the Alamo.
As someone who didn’t grow up in Texas, I’m still pretty familiar with The Alamo. In a musical tribute to the frontier my fourth grade class I remember bellowing ‘Remember the Alamo’ on stage with my classmates. For kids who grow up in Texas, a deep dive into the story of The Alamo is mandatory curriculum, every year in the 7th Grade.
So I asked our producer, Sara, who grew up in Texas, to tell me the story of the Alamo.
Grace
All righty, So Sara… can you tell me the story of the Alamo as you learned it in school?
Sara
Yeah, I can.
Sara
Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821. After that revolution, more Americans started moving to Texas, which at that time was not a state, but part of Mexico. They thought, Hey, Texas seems pretty cool. We can live out our frontier dreams in this new land. Then in 1832, Mexico had a new man in charge, General Santa Anna. And these new Texans under this man's rule were getting increasingly frustrated. They thought that the government was tyrannical. Texans say, “We're gonna be independent from you.” And Mexico says,” No you aren't.” And so fighting ensues. The Texan army took control of this building called the Alamo, which is this old Spanish colonial mission in San Antonio. Then General Santa Anna decides we need that back. Mexico needs that back. And he rallies army of 5,000 people to go and get it. Well, they're only about 180 Texans. They're just a little group of underdogs, but they put up a pretty good fight.
It's a 13 day siege, kind of led by Jim Bowie, William Travis and Davy Crockett. Ultimately, Texans lost the battle. Every single Texan was killed. And so at the Battle of San Jacinto, their rallying cry was, remember the Alamo to kind of remember who they were fighting for. Even though Texas lost that battle at the Alamo, it gave them the strength to win the revolution.
Grace
And how does that relate to being Texan?
Sara
I think the story of the Alamo is all about having pride for Texas, even if it costs your life. Sometimes I almost get the sense that people think that you could give them a musket and they would go and do the same thing like today, and like that's what you have to feel about Texas in order to live there and be a Texan.
GRACE:
The story of the Alamo plays a central role in the hearts and minds of many in the state. It's considered the first time that Anglo-Americans fought as Texans. So it marks the birth of not just the state of Texas but the identity of the Texan.
Characters like Davy Crockett have become household names. John Wayne memorialized the role in the 1960s film adaptation of the event. It is a larger than life story of bravery, valor, and men of principle.
And it might just be entirely false.
Because when you check the story with experts – which obviously I did – it doesn’t hold up.
Grace
And what facts does that narrative leave out?
Jason Stanford
Oh, almost all of them, except for its location. It did happen in San Antonio and I believe they got the date right.
GRACE:
To close out our series, we’re going all the way back to the beginning of Texas. Or at least, what is taught as the founding of Texas.
Because while the nation is embroiled in its own fight over how we teach our origin story, Texas is locked in just as contentious a fight over its own controversial founding.
Jason Stanford
Everyone had a, had a big political fight over it. And which is really kind of par for the course when it comes to the Alamo, there's always a factual well-intended conflict or change that is immediately blown out of proportion by conservative political thought. And then anything practical can't get done.
Grace
Which sounds a lot like issues that are outside of the Alamo today that are kind of consuming our conversations around education.
Jason Stanford
Pretty much. Everything has become like the Alamo these days. Everything is a fight to the death in education.
GRACE:
From Wonder Media Network, I’m Grace Lynch and this is the finale of Teaching Texas.
Today, the consequences of telling fake histories.
The Alamo is one of Texas’ greatest exports. In addition to all the other Texas imagery that has become synonymous with America: cowboy hats, spurs and longhorn cattle…the Alamo, the story of Texas’ own great founding and independence, has permeated through culture.
[MUSIC/FILM MONTAGE:]
“Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier”
“[gunfire] General Bowie wants to know how it’s goin’, Davy. We’re holdin’ our own, they’ve shelled us ‘round the clock for four days and ain’t hit a man of us yet. Oh, I know it. Incredible.”
“Starring John Wayne as Colonel David Crockett, filling the giant theatre screen with spectacular adventure, filmed on a scale unequaled in motion picture history, recreating the 13 glorious days of the siege history will never forget. And you will always remember… The Alamo!”
Jason Stanford
The idea of Texas, the story we tell about Texas, it's not based on historical records, but it's a story that is, that is impervious to fact.
GRACE:
That’s Jason Stanford, one of the authors of Forget the Alamo and Chief Officer of Communications and Community Engagement for the Austin Independent School District. Along with his co-authors, Jason is encouraging Texans to revisit the event of the Alamo. And receiving a lot of pushback.
Jason Stanford
Challenging the myth brands you as disloyal and that the way to be Texan under the under the traditional sense is to believe in a story that can't be proven by facts and is often disproven by facts.
GRACE:
As we’ve covered throughout the show, the versions of our histories that wind up in textbooks aren’t always the most…factually accurate. The stories we are taught have been filtered through the political and personal ideology of a few key players. Which means that the story Texans learn about the Alamo exhibits some of the same cardinal flaws as many other fraught topics and histories.
There are people trying to change how these stories are taught. Jason Stanford and his co-authors certainly fall into that category. As does Professor Andrés Tijerina.
Dr. Tijerina is a historian, author and scholar who has dedicated his career to studying the history of Mexican-Americans. As a lifelong Texan, Dr. Tijerina is very familiar with the story of the Alamo.
Andrés Tijerina
It had all the markers of what Amer– of the identity that am Americans had of themselves. It had all the good guys and the bad guys. And they, and, and, and they had the best guy of all David Crockett, because he already was an icon in, in of the frontier. And that's why, that's why it has such a, uh, a large role in American history, American mythology, American self concept. Because even at that time, it represented very much what Americans thought of themselves.
GRACE:
The first battle that kicks off what we consider the Texas Revolution is the famed story of the Alamo. Where these now famous frontiersmen nobly sacrificed themselves in pursuit of greater freedom…. Except, that’s not quite right.
Jason Stanford
They really just kind of farted around and got trapped.
GRACE:
Jason Stanford again.
Jason Stanford
And then the night before the siege, they tried to surrender again and were told, no, we'll put you to death. So they were really just trapped. They didn't fight to the last man. Uh, there were several survivors. So it's just that all the white men were killed. And so they think, well, that's everyone. At least a third of them ran and tried to make a run for it. And there's certainly no shame in that. Um, they thought they had a shot, but they were run down by the, uh, the calvary.
GRACE:
So the valiant stand at the Alamo wasn’t quite as pure as the storied version would want us to believe. But these were still brave men who were fighting against tyranny! They were fighting for freedom! …..Right?
Jason Stanford
Well, the, the, the role of slavery is pretty clear. And it's, it's easy to see why people haven't talked about it. Cuz the story we tell about Texas is these, these brave souls stood up against tyranny, which is actually just trying to make them pay their taxes that every other Mexican had to pay, and to not own slaves, like every other Mexican was perfectly fine doing. Uh, but that's tyranny to these people. So they stood up against tyranny for independence and, you know, the standing up for tyranny against independence, it's it, it ruins the story a little bit to say that one of the thing freedoms they were fighting for was to own other people. It's heresy here to say that they were doing something that wasn't good, that they were doing something that was bad.
GRACE:
When white Anglo-Americans came to Texas they brought with them a cotton farming economy – a system that could only operate with enslaved labor. Now, slavery was already illegal in Mexico. At first, the Mexican government made an exception for Anglo-Americans in order to entice more people to move there. But when Mexico tried to outlaw slavery once and for all…the Anglo-Americans in Texas weren’t having it. Here’s Dr. Tijerina.
Andrés Tijerina
So if you bring African American slaves into a place that already has a constitution that prohibits slavery, are you bringing freedom into Texas? Are you bringing liberty into Texas? Or are you bringing slavery into Texas so much that you outnumber the natives of Texas and you claim to be bringing freedom?
GRACE:
Wanting to downplay the role of slavery in the Alamo shouldn’t surprise us, given the uproar surrounding the publication of Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project. The 1619 Project reframed the country’s founding to center the role of slavery in building America. It fundamentally challenged the heroic American origin story narrative. One that focuses on the perseverance of early white frontiersmen. It also challenged what many view as the divine founding of America. Conservatives in this country do not want to acknowledge this version of history. Neither in the context of America’s founding nor at the Alamo.
So the battle itself wasn’t necessarily pure bravery. And the reasons they were fighting were significantly less noble than suggested. Even with those complications, this is still ultimately a revolution story.
Andrés Tijerina
Who overthrew the government of Texas? Was it the Tejano people? Did the people of Texas overthrow their own government? Or was the government of Texas overthrown by people who came from another country who overthrew the government of Texas?
GRACE:
For Andrés Tijerina…it’s not a story about revolution.
Andrés Tijerina
A revolution is when the people of Texas overthrow their own government. Not when people from another country come in and overthrow their government and then kill them. After the battle of San Jacinto, the Tejanos then were persecuted. And the greatest hero of all the Tejanos who fought in the Alamo with Davy Crockett, who fought at San Jacinto with Sam Houston, Juan Seguín, was then persecuted and driven out of Texas. So was this a revolution of the people of Texas to establish a government to serve the people of Texas? Or was it a, a war where foreigners came overthrew the government of another country and then drove the native people out violently.
GRACE:
Herein lies another one of the Alamo’s great contradictions. Davy Crockett originally hailed from Tennessee and had only been living in Texas for two weeks. TWO WEEKS! And yet his death at the Alamo signifies the birth of a new state, and a new identity.
Andrés Tijerina
So what is Texan was born, A Texan was born in 1836? What were the Tejanos for 150 years before that when they founded and established Texas for 150 years? They're not Texans. No, they're Mexicans and they'll never be Texans. So you have a contradiction in the very identity of what a Texan is. What is a Texan? A person who's been there and founded Texas or the guy who comes and here's where he's here for two weeks and we call him the Texan. Who's the Texan?
GRACE:
The actual Texans, or Tejanos, that fought alongside Crockett, Travis and Bowie have been almost entirely written out of the story.
Andrés Tijerina
That Juan Seguín, one of the biggest heroes of all the battles of the revolution was a Tejano. They're not taught that. They're not taught that when Santa Anna came to Texas, he wasn't after David Crockett. He didn't know who the heck David Crockett was. He was after the Tejanos. The Tejanos started the independence movement. It was their fight. Nobody's taught that. They're taught that these people didn't know what democracy was and that they are the Mexicans. In fact, one of the original movies of the Alamo depicts the Tejanos as Santa Anna's army, when in reality Tejanos are the ones who were fighting Santa Anna for, for independence.
GRACE:
The mythical version of the Alamo immediately took hold. Because Sam Houston, notable Anglo-Texan, needed to raise an army to stand against the Mexican President and General Santa Anna. The fabrication of the Alamo became the perfect rallying cry for Houston.
Jason Stanford
It wasn't until the Alamo that he had anything to tell people. After that he had a good myth, you know, this self-sacrifice and we have to avenge their deaths. That's where remember the Alamo came from, it was a revenge, motivation, to try to get the, the white settlers to go kill the Mexican army.
GRACE:
From that moment on, the ‘we must avenge our fellow man’ narrative became core to the American identity. As Jason pointed out, whenever the U.S. has faced tragedy, you hear the same rallying cry.
Jason Stanford
They died for us and now we have to go kill for them. That is a really, really old story. More recently it's 9/11, right? These people went to work and there's the let’s go, United flight 93. And now we have to go kill brown skin people to even their death. Uh, before that it was Pearl Harbor. You know, these, these guys were just sitting on the boat and Japanese came in, killed them all. Now we gotta go kill people for them. Uh, it's not just the self-sacrifice. It is that the that's death demands violent retribution.
GRACE:
To this day, you can still find echoes of the Alamo in right wing politics.
Jason Stanford
I don't think you can divorce the conservative view of Texas from how conservatives see themselves now. In his last state of the union, President Trump referred to the beautiful, beautiful Alamo. And the story of this, that demands violent revenge is largely, you know, the, the, the fuel that burns the conservative movement.
GRACE:
One of the enduring imprints of the Alamo is the phrase, “come and take it.” It was in reference to the Mexican army demanding the fighters at the Alamo return a cannon. They refused, replying “come and take it.” The phrase has since become the unofficial slogan of Texas and co-opted by other groups on the right.
Jason Stanford
The come and take it, uh, uh, symbol with the AR-15, uh, is the dominant symbol of the gun rights movement, which is taken from the come and take flag from the Texas revolution.
GRACE:
The story of the Alamo also looms large over the U.S. Military.
Jason Stanford
I know I talked to the former curator of the Alamo. And he said, there's only one Alamo in San Antonio. But according to the pictures he's seen from troops who fought overseas, there are hundreds of Alamos as little ford bases and, and, and, and, you know, names put on tents in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Alamo is how we see ourselves as a country against the rest of the world.
GRACE:
The Alamo has clearly grown to represent something larger than the individual events of that one day over a hundred years ago in San Antonio. It’s a way to teach bravery, love of country, and the importance of fighting for freedom. Those values and lessons are all fine…if we just acknowledged that story for what it is: a myth.
Teaching this as history – as a story with a factual historical record behind it – is something else all together. It’s the embodiment of what the Gablers pushed for – figure out what you want kids to believe, and then teach the history to reflect that. It’s essentially propaganda. Propaganda that keeps a populous unable to learn from the triumphs and mistakes of the past. Dividing myth from history is something Jason feels very strongly about.
Jason Stanford
It's hard to get away from the myth and the stories and all of that. You're never gonna be able to, nor I don't think, should you not teach the stories, right? Like we teach the story about George Washington and the cherry tree for an important reason. Not because it's historically accurate, but because this is how in our country, we have taught kids that lying is wrong and that it takes courage to tell the truth. Great! That's a good story to tell. I mean, there are all sorts of stories we do that to teach, here's who we are as a culture. That's great. Um, but to enforce a version of history that is counterfactual because that's the way the politicians want it borders on child abuse. I think that really cheeses me off. It's it's it's bullying and now they're, they're all over themselves and the legislature require more and more of this, what is really, you know, cultural reeducation. And they're trying to enforce a, a result and not an input. They're trying to enforce the output that everyone will become patriotic. Instead of having to earn that patriotism by our values being good and being aligned with our actions.
GRACE:
Teaching children to be patriotic was a high priority for the Gablers. They wanted kids to grow up believing in American exceptionalism. They feared that placing too much emphasis on other cultures or nations, would make them question that.
It’s quite evident that for the Gablers, American exceptionalism was limited to the accomplishments of white, Christian, straight, capitalist Americans. I mean, if the Gablers saw Martin Luther King Jr. as a communist who promoted disrespect for authority… it’s clear that they weren’t interested in the exceptional efforts of all Americans.
And at the state board of education hearings this fall, we heard a lot of protestors expressing similar concerns over a perceived lack of emphasis on American exceptionalism. This time, many took issue with a requirement to study the accomplishments of the PRIDE movement. Again making plain which American achievements they view as exceptional.
The story of the Alamo – as it has classically been told, about the bravery and integrity of a few good men who jump started a revolution – can feel really gratifying. But I think it’s important to ask: gratifying for whom?
In a story about how White Americans beat back the tyrannical Mexican army. Who is a young Mexican-American student – like Dr. Tijerina once was – left to identify with?
Andrés Tijerina
Everything that happened in Texas history was the Anglo white Texans against the Mexicans. And so it was one thing that, that I was introduced to a history that was binary and that, and that I, I was identified as being the Mexican, but the, what was significant about that course was that the teacher literally singled me out by name and told the other students that I was the Mexican that they were talking about. And the next year a teacher also taught the same history. And that teacher in the eighth grade literally said that I was a descendant of Santa Anna. So it wasn't just that I saw myself and everybody saw me as being the, the enemy, the Mexican, in this story of the Alamo. It's that the teacher single singled me out by name and told the other students that I was different from them because I was literally biologically related to the enemy. Now that alienated me from the history of Texas, alienated me from this identity of Texas.
GRACE:
For a young latino boy, this story did not instill a sense of patriotism. In fact, it did the opposite.
Andrés Tijerina
So I recognize then that, that that course, the way that it's taught is, it's the watershed, it's the growing up. It's when you establish the identity of, of who are the good people, who are the bad people in Texas. That course that, that Texans learned in seventh grade will take a loyal, proud American student and within two weeks, convert them into a Mexican who will never, ever be able to relate again. And whose fellow students will never, ever see him the same again and will always consider him a Mexican, an immigrant, the enemy of Texas.
GRACE:
In a final twist of the knife, the story of the Alamo takes the land of Texas, originally part of Mexico, and tears it away from the Tejano. It labels them as immigrants, even though some white Anglo-Americans had only been there for a matter of weeks.
Despite how factually inaccurate it may be – Texas isn’t backing down from the traditional telling of the story. Jason’s book, Forget the Alamo became a bit of a lightning rod in the state. The Lieutenant Governor, Dan Patrick, actually canceled a book event they had scheduled at the State History Museum. That’s right – the Lt. Gov. canceled a private book event. That’s how much powerful people in Texas do not want the story of the Alamo challenged.
And, a recent piece of legislation that made its way through the Texas House would block exhibits at the physical Alamo from identifying the major figures in the Texas Revolution as enslavers.
The next generation of students in Texas will be more diverse than any generation before them. So this story is no longer saying “you don’t belong here” to just one boy in the class. It’s now saying that to the majority of the class. Distancing so many people from America would appear – to me – to be extremely counter-productive if patriotism is something we value in education. In this scenario, Texas, and by extension, America, suffers.
Andrés Tijerina
The harm in this is that Texas needs all of the energy, creativity, intelligence, and dedication from every Texan in order to achieve not only its greatest economic wealth, but democracy. Every Texan must believe not only that they were part of what made Texas great, but they're part of what's going to make Texas even greater. They're the ones who have a dedication to fight for the modern future of Texas. Now, if you alienate them and tell them they're not Texans, you are alienating a significant percentage of the fighting power, the working power, the brain power of this country. And we can't do that. And that's what democracy is. So education and a little thing like that one seventh grade Texas history course. That's critical.
GRACE:
I first learned about this connection between democracy and education in 12th grade. Mr. Johnston, my IB English teacher, was starting a new unit on civics. He was going to teach us how to register to vote, and to assess local referendums. As he was explaining all of this to us, he said: “public education should prepare you to be citizens in a democracy.”
I remember this moment so clearly because up until that point, I’d never really considered the question: what is the purpose of public education? It’s just something that existed.
But as people try to exert their influence over schools, it’s important to consider what school is for. The Gablers saw the purpose of public education as teaching patriotism and basic skills.
In making this show, I’ve asked nearly everyone I’ve talked to what they thought the purpose of public education was. And I heard a lot of different answers.
Carisa Lopez
Public education is meant to be and should be an equalizer, right?
Neal Frey
To get information in a student’s head to change their behavior
Tiffany Justice
Yeah, the duty of, of the public education system is to educate children, to give them practical skills so they can be successful in life chief among those is reading.
Dr. James Whitfield
The purpose of education is to spark a sense of curiosity and to spur critical thinking.
Andrés Tijerina
Education is the lifeblood of democracy.
GRACE:
That last voice is Dr. Tijerina again. For him, the purpose of education is the survival of Democracy.
Andrés Tijerina
A public education is what allows you to have a democracy. Because a democracy by definition is the people, the people who drive the policy decisions that become legislation that govern our daily lives. Those people must be educated in order to make those policy decisions in order to vote for those policy decisions. It comes down to every single citizen knowing the facts.
GRACE:
As we’ve heard throughout this season, people on the right have targeted public education for decades with the explicit purpose of influencing the political ideology of the next generation of voters.
Zach Kent, the history teacher in Austin you heard from last episode, sees the recent CRT debates as a concerted effort for a select few to hang onto power.
Zach Kent
Because they understand the power of education. And they understand that if you think reasonably about certain things, you're gonna come to conclusions that are not the ones that are gonna keep making you money or keep X number of people in power. And I don't think that's a cynical thought. I think that's them making like from their perspective or rational cost benefit analysis to hold onto power and, and control money.
GRACE:
This zero sum approach to power and influence is what frustrated Jenn Hough in Southlake. As she told us, things like dignity and rights aren’t finite resources. Respecting the rights of one child doesn’t negate the rights of another. And telling the complete, complex version of history doesn’t diminish the courageous parts of these stories.
For instance – when it comes to the Alamo – despite how the story made him feel as a boy, Dr. Tijerina still acknowledges the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in the battle.
Andrés Tijerina
I will criticize and I will point out, because I'm a historian, we do critical analysis. We want facts. And so I will point out if there certain things that are said about the Alamo that are not factual, I will point that out. But in no way am I going to degrade or, or, uh, deny the, the accomplishments, the heroism, the commitment of people, not only at the Alamo, but on Wake Island, Pearl Harbor, um, D-Day, the cliffs of Normandy. You can't deny that that is American.
GRACE:
Toward the end of our conversation, Dr. Tijerina told me he jokes with his friends that he already knows how he’ll die. One day he’ll be pulled over by border patrol or the police and be asked for his papers. And he’ll respond with Texan pride, “come and take it motherfucker.” And promptly be shot.
Now, that’s incredibly dark, but it embodies so much of the bravado of Texans that I love.
Dr. Tijerina knows that to many – especially in Texas – he’s not, on impact, seen as an American. And yet, he embodies so many of the traditional, patriotic attributes these same people hold up. I mean, for crying out loud, he’s a Vietnam veteran with the U.S. flag hanging off his garage.
But Dr. Tijerina knows that regardless of how others may see him, he’s American. And he knows that his roots in this country run even deeper than surface-level patriotism. Long before the Anglo-Americans arrived in Texas, it was the Tejanos who wore spurs, and wide brimmed hats herding the longhorn cattle. It was all already there. There would be no Texas without the Tejanos. There would be no Americana without the Tejanos. Dr. Tijerina knows that. And he’s dedicated his life to making sure other people know it too.
At the Alamo, Tejanos fought shoulder to shoulder alongside Anglo-Americans. Including them in the frame doesn’t diminish the sacrifice made by the Anglo-Americans. It only enhances the image.
I like to imagine it like an old photograph where the left side has been folded under. In the middle of the picture you see Crockett, Travis, and Bowie, side by side, muskets in hand. The creases of this photo have long been worn down, but if you flatten out the picture to reveal the whole image, you see the famed Tejano Juan Seguín to Crockett’s left, Fighting the same fight.
For Dr. Tijerina, it’s not the actual history that bothers him – it’s the telling of that history. It’s the telling of that history that made him feel like an outsider when really, he belonged in the frame the entire time.
That’s what we risk when we don’t tell the full story. We risk alienating those who were always part of our extremely fraught history. And obscuring the motivations of people we’re taught to see as heroes. Which is why it’s so important to consider, closely, the stories we tell about ourselves.
Determining how we tell these stories fueled the debates around textbooks for decades. And now it’s behind the villainization of teachers in the classroom.
Because ultimately, it’s our teachers who are left to navigate these questions. To deliver this information to a diverse group of students and to contextualize these stories even when our textbooks don’t.
Which is something Zach Kent has to navigate each year with his history class.
Zach Kent
We have this essential question for the year, which is like I tell kids on the first day of school we're gonna spend all year trying to answer one question and it comes up in different ways and we refer back to it. Um, and the question that we've been using the last couple years is: How do we make America possible? So it starts from this assumption that like everyone has different ideas about what America is and wherever you land on that, there's an understanding that it's not yet as beautiful or just, or brilliant or patriotic or insert whatever word you care about, as it could be. And it's not true enough for enough people in enough places in enough ways. Again, like whatever American means to you, whatever it is to you. And within there there's this recognition that like we have to do something actively to set the stage. So that, that might be a thing for us in the future. There's an emphasis on the, we, we have to do things together and we have to do things and we're doing things to try and create a better world. However, we define that. And I think patriotism at its best is not very different from that.
GRACE:
In this political climate, I think it can be easy to say that agreeing on a single national narrative is too hard. Maybe we should let public education become decentralized and more tailored to what parents in each community think is important. I don’t doubt that on some level, that would be easier.
And perhaps it’s my own underdeveloped patriotism that turns in my stomach everytime I hear that but something about it doesn’t sit well. There is a lot to be proud of in this country. There’s also a lot to resent. And a lot to repent. It’s not tidy. It’s not without uncertainty. It’s not exclusively exceptional. But grappling with contradiction might be the most American thing I can think of. It is foundational in all aspects of our story.
We can change how we tell our story, we can gain a better understanding of where we've come from, and it is uncomfortable, but it's ultimately good. And this cycle will repeat because of that discomfort. It's tempting to go back to telling a nicer story.
Because if you care enough, if you read every textbook line by line, if you go to every local and state school board meeting to have your voice heard, if you send out monthly newsletters to parents and go on national TV. If you write legislation that dictates how teachers conduct their lessons.... You hold a lot of power. And it really matters what you do with it.
To make America possible we have to acknowledge and weigh all of those sides. Without it, I suspect we lose the curiosity, ingenuity and resourcefulness of the most dynamic generation ahead. We risk casting people out of the frame who belonged there all along.
How do we make America possible? Interrogating that question – feels like the purpose of public education to me.
Teaching Texas is a Wonder Media Network Production. It’s created by me, Grace Lynch and is produced by myself and Adesuwa Agbonile. Our editor is Lindsey Kratochwill. Production assistance by Sara Schleede. Jenny Kaplan is our Executive Producer. Original theme music by Chelsea Daniel.
Thank you so much for listening.