I have a strange name.
I have spent a
lifetime being called everything under the sun and have particular sympathy for
people whose mother tongue is other than English (which is a far cry from
suggesting that native English speakers do any better with it!) Innes is a
Scottish surname that my francophone relatives have a particularly tough time
with - the hard ‘i’ sound tends to come out as “he”. The best way to remember it
is to think of ‘Guinness’ and drop the ‘G’.
However, Innes isn’t
my first name. It actually begins with a C and is an ancient name that seems
anachronistic in North America, although it is still common in parts of Europe.
As a kid, outside of my own family, the only times I had ever heard it used was
in my Latin textbook, in the Christmas special Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and in Planet of the Apes – the original starring Charlton Heston. See if
you can figure what it is.
As an adult, my name has
grown into a point of mild pride. It is interesting, tells a story, and links
me with my ancestors. But for kids (including me), often unique traits are
about as welcome as lice. Whether it is physical differences, ways of speaking,
weird names, or family quirks, anything that moves you to the outside of the
adolescent bell curve of being ‘normal’ is to be avoided or at least
well-hidden.
Young people who are
comfortable in their own skins, especially if they are different, are
remarkably impressive. How we promote this ability is among the greatest
challenges for parents, teachers and society. Because, whether the comfort
comes from wisdom, courage, delusion, perspective, or arrogance, it will more
than likely be a major contributor to longer-term happiness. We all know people
who have spent lifetimes trying to become comfortable with who they are. Discovering
(or it is developing) that comfort is one of life’s greatest gifts
My last name was
created in the 1630s by my great x 10 grandfather, Jacob Jansen. He emigrated
from a flooded island home call Nordstrandt (or ‘North Shore’) in Friesland to
an area of New Amsterdam that is today just outside of Saratoga, New York. Once
in the New World, he adopted the surname van Nordstrandt or ‘from North Shore’.
Any van Nostrand or Van Ostrand or Noordstrand or other derivation is almost
certainly a descendant of Jacob Jansen.
Friesland is now part
of The Netherlands, Germany and Denmark, but the Friesans used to be their own
nation and were intertwined with the Angles and other Germanic tribes. The distinct
Friesan language and dialects still exist and I am told that Friesan culture is
alive and thriving. My cousin John, who is a well-known international expert in
planning and how communities interact, informed me that for much of their
history in the early Middle Ages, the Friesans had neither kings nor lords and
practiced democracy as the core of their societal decision-making system long
before most other European powers. Indeed, they exported the idea to other nations.
Democracy is at the
heart of North American and Western European society. It is impossible for me
to imagine Canada being anything other than democratic. We promote it in much
of what we do as a school, and it is a pillar of Round Square.
It’s hard to take
issue with Churchill’s famous quote on the subject, “It
has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the
others that have been tried.” However, David
Brooks’ column today is a refreshing example of US-based critical thinking
when it comes to political systems.
In travels over the last 20 years, there
have been many questions raised in my mind about political structures. Visits over
the last couple of years to places such as Peru, China, India, and Malaysia, as
well as observing some of the areas of international tension have amplified
these questions:
·
Is
democracy right for all societies?
·
What are
the pre-requisites for successful democracy?
·
Is it
essential for freedom of the press, a free-market economy, human rights, an
independent judiciary and democracy to co-exist?
·
Does
democracy work when society has big problems that need to be solved?
·
What is
the relationship between corruption and different political systems?
·
Is the
appropriateness of democracy related to stages of social development?
·
Have we
been sufficiently creative in coming up with variations on democracy to fit
circumstances?
I don’t pretend to
understand the best answers to these questions, but I do appreciate that, like
religion, we often fall into the trap of assuming that our system is right …
simply because it is our system. We grew
up with it, it has worked well for us and our ancestors, and our nation
prospers. It is easy and common for North Americans to fall into the trap of
assuming that we have a monopoly on truth as applied to political systems both
for our own futures as well as those of the other nations of the world.
There is an interesting
conversation among educators about the oft-used used phrase ‘critical thinking
skills’. There is a broad consensus that it is one of the most important skills
for success in the next 50 years, but what exactly do we mean by it? In part,
it is the ability to ask the tough question; to challenge conventional wisdom; to
keep an open mind; to use evidence and creativity to fully explore all aspects of
a big question or issue.
Is there any better
example for the need for critical thinking for global citizens than defining
the best systems to allow our communities and our nations to govern themselves?
