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National Post article
http://server09.densan.ca/archivenews/051111/npt/051111cv.htm
Canadians no longer remember
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'If ye break faith with us who die, we will not sleep, though poppies grow in Flander's fields."
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Ninety years after John McCrae penned the haunting words of In Flanders Field as the carnage and horror of the Battle of Ypres raged around him, a new survey released today by the Dominion Institute suggests Canadians are "breaking faith" with our country's war dead.
Our nation-wide poll indicates that the number of Canadians planning to attend a Remembrance Day ceremony has declined for the third year in a row. Barely 50% of Canadians will take part in events honouring our 117,000 war dead despite this being the Year of the Veteran and the nation having just marked, with much fanfare, the 60th anniversaries of D-Day and VE-Day.
For those who would argue that these numbers indicate the glass is half full, consider the poll's finding that almost a third of our citizens indicated they would not attend a Remembrance Day event because it wasn't "personally important to them" or because they were not interested in the past or feel that Nov. 11 "just glorifies war."
Canada is succumbing to a culture of forgetfulness: a pernicious narcissism where our individual wants and desires to trump any sense of responsibility for who we are as a country and what we've accomplished together.
Who is to blame for the erosion of our sense of duty -- and, more importantly, what can we do to keep faith with John McCrae and our war dead? The lion's share of the responsibility rests with provincial ministries of education and the now decades-long decline of the teaching of Canadian history in high schools.
Incredible though it may seem, in five provinces -- Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island -- students can graduate from high school without taking a single course with a 20th Century Canadian history component. And in provinces where some Canadian history is required for graduation, most curriculums give short shrift to Canada's military heritage in favour of a social studies smorgasbord of civics, geography and "world studies."
Meanwhile, studies show that upwards of half of history teachers do not have a university degree in the Arts, let alone history. The perception among school administrators is that anyone can teach Canadian history.
The impact of fewer and fewer dedicated Canadian history courses, and lower and lower professional standards, is seen in surveys of high school graduates revealing that only one in three can associate "D-Day" with the invasion of Normandy or knows that Vimy Ridge was a great First World War victory.
Parallel to the devaluing of our military heritage in schools has been the shedding of civic observances of Remembrance in our communities.
In the aftermath of the Great War, with one in 10 Canadians who fought in the mud and trenches of Flanders Fields never having returned, ours was a nation traumatized by its staggering losses. Nov. 11 was both a day of national mourning and a powerful reminder of a collective responsibility to build a better society to give meaning to Canada's immense sacrifice. After the 50 million dead in the Second World War, this dual significance of Remembrance took on added urgency.
To ensure that our war dead rest in the peaceful slumber that they so rightly deserve, we urgently need to renew our commitment to the values of Remembrance in our schools and society at large.
Let's make the study of 20th century Canadian history mandatory for graduation in all provinces -- something 80% of respondents to our poll supported. And let's restore Remembrance Day to its proper place as a national statutory holiday, easily achievable through a simple Act of Parliament that would be a fitting tribute to the service of the final five living veterans of the Great War.
To fail in these tasks is to lose the true meaning of Remembrance Day: the opportunity it gives us each year to keep promise with our country's past and ponder the awesome responsibilities of citizenship.
http://server09.densan.ca/archivenews/051111/npt/051111cv.htm
Canadians no longer remember
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'If ye break faith with us who die, we will not sleep, though poppies grow in Flander's fields."
- - -
Ninety years after John McCrae penned the haunting words of In Flanders Field as the carnage and horror of the Battle of Ypres raged around him, a new survey released today by the Dominion Institute suggests Canadians are "breaking faith" with our country's war dead.
Our nation-wide poll indicates that the number of Canadians planning to attend a Remembrance Day ceremony has declined for the third year in a row. Barely 50% of Canadians will take part in events honouring our 117,000 war dead despite this being the Year of the Veteran and the nation having just marked, with much fanfare, the 60th anniversaries of D-Day and VE-Day.
For those who would argue that these numbers indicate the glass is half full, consider the poll's finding that almost a third of our citizens indicated they would not attend a Remembrance Day event because it wasn't "personally important to them" or because they were not interested in the past or feel that Nov. 11 "just glorifies war."
Canada is succumbing to a culture of forgetfulness: a pernicious narcissism where our individual wants and desires to trump any sense of responsibility for who we are as a country and what we've accomplished together.
Who is to blame for the erosion of our sense of duty -- and, more importantly, what can we do to keep faith with John McCrae and our war dead? The lion's share of the responsibility rests with provincial ministries of education and the now decades-long decline of the teaching of Canadian history in high schools.
Incredible though it may seem, in five provinces -- Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island -- students can graduate from high school without taking a single course with a 20th Century Canadian history component. And in provinces where some Canadian history is required for graduation, most curriculums give short shrift to Canada's military heritage in favour of a social studies smorgasbord of civics, geography and "world studies."
Meanwhile, studies show that upwards of half of history teachers do not have a university degree in the Arts, let alone history. The perception among school administrators is that anyone can teach Canadian history.
The impact of fewer and fewer dedicated Canadian history courses, and lower and lower professional standards, is seen in surveys of high school graduates revealing that only one in three can associate "D-Day" with the invasion of Normandy or knows that Vimy Ridge was a great First World War victory.
Parallel to the devaluing of our military heritage in schools has been the shedding of civic observances of Remembrance in our communities.
In the aftermath of the Great War, with one in 10 Canadians who fought in the mud and trenches of Flanders Fields never having returned, ours was a nation traumatized by its staggering losses. Nov. 11 was both a day of national mourning and a powerful reminder of a collective responsibility to build a better society to give meaning to Canada's immense sacrifice. After the 50 million dead in the Second World War, this dual significance of Remembrance took on added urgency.
To ensure that our war dead rest in the peaceful slumber that they so rightly deserve, we urgently need to renew our commitment to the values of Remembrance in our schools and society at large.
Let's make the study of 20th century Canadian history mandatory for graduation in all provinces -- something 80% of respondents to our poll supported. And let's restore Remembrance Day to its proper place as a national statutory holiday, easily achievable through a simple Act of Parliament that would be a fitting tribute to the service of the final five living veterans of the Great War.
To fail in these tasks is to lose the true meaning of Remembrance Day: the opportunity it gives us each year to keep promise with our country's past and ponder the awesome responsibilities of citizenship.
