Anthems and Objects: Heritage in the Classroom

I found the last set of readings quite interesting, having never thought about the significance of classroom decoration before. I think this is a result of a number of factors, including the school where I currently teach, as we don’t have any overtly political ornamentation on our walls. However, two years ago, we started playing “Oh Canada” each morning, something I was a little uncomfortable with when it first started. Throughout the entirety of my public school experience I never attended a school where either the national anthem or any pledge or prayer was recited, and so the ritual each morning was a new experience for me.

So far, I have enjoyed the morning anthem, more for its classroom management advantages than the citizen-building or patriotic aspects that the anthem might stand for. During the national anthem, students stand respectfully quiet, which provides a appropriate leading off point for the morning classroom duties. I suppose the anthem itself is not what I appreciate, but the exercise of a quiet, shared, respectful moment.

I have also never considered deeply what the anthem might mean for different populations and voices within our country, and how many groups identify strongly or negatively toward the written message. I plan to soon engage my students in a dicussion about the morning ritual, as I am curious to know their responses to a number of questions: Do they relate to the lyrics of our national anthem?
Do they have any family connections/stories/traditions involving the anthem?
What are they thinking about during the national anthem?
Why do they think the anthem is played everyday?

After last week’s discussion and readings, I’m starting to notice public displays of Canadian culture, and I’m seeing a repeated connection with the notions of heritage and history. I wonder if it’s because we live in such a multi-cultural, multi-heritage nation, but it seems like the celebration of any voice leads to the exclusion of others. I brings me back to similar questions that I’ve raised before – is it possible to celebrate our history or culture in a fair and just way? How do we take up our culture fabric in an honouring way?

I noticed this public display when working in Kelowna over the weekend and immediately noticed a connection with the ideas from last week. The object was mounted on the wall entering the Faculty of Education at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia. It appears as though it is a classroom project, and my assumption of the work is that students choose a symbol or image to represent their understanding of Canadian identity, with the knowledge that they would be piecing them together to create the unified artifact. There are 28 tiles that have then been collected, mounted and painting with the overlying Maple Leaf as the unifying symbol.

What I found interesting at first was the choices (and I’m assuming that it was the students, not the teacher) made about which symbols and images would be used on the individual tiles. There’s a wide range of sports (Lacrosse, Hockey, basketball, snowboarding sailing, canoeing, taboganning, ballooning) to clothing items (mitts) to some historic items (James Naismith presumable inventing basketball, the CPR) and mixed cultural symbols (masks, buffalo and various fish, apple and school books, a loonie, Inuit?). I wondered what the exercise in the classroom might have looked like – what had the teacher asked the student’s to do? Was there a focus? Was there criteria for deciding which topics to make? I wonder if the student’s had the opportunity to see the final assembled product, and if so, did they engage in discussion about the collective message? Were they asked whose voices were represented? Did they wonder whose voices were missing? What events are represented? What events are absent? I keep going back to our early discussions – what criteria do we utilize to determine historical significance? Cultural significance? In a nation with so many voices – how we/should we decide these issues? What might Levesque or Seixas say about this piece? Should be we critical of the historical thinking it demonstrates?

I also find the unification of the individual pieces with the Maple Leaf interesting. Perhaps I’m analyzing too deeply, but does the creation of 28 individual tiles, merely painted over with a national symbol, create a unified national display? There is nothing on any tile that demonstrates an awareness or dialogue with the rest. Do we live in a country of fragmented groups/regions/cultures/nationalities that united by veils of nationalism such as flags and anthems? What is the heritage/history/story that brings us together? What do we all have in common?

Additional thoughts on this post: (March 15th)

As I've been reading and wrestling with the Stanley article, the notion of the grand narrative continues to circle. I find it interesting going back to this educational object, that is it is physical and visual attempt at a grand narrative. By overlaying the Canadian flag over these 28 images, I get the feeling of unity and cohesion between the tiles. I also get the sense that this is the complete "Canadian experience." Again I wonder, who's grand narrative is created and hung on this wall? Interestingly, Stanley writes that "Canadians in fact do not have a common history, and no single narrative will ever make it so." How many social studies classes around the country have engaged in similar exercises of narrative building? Do I?