School

I have a love/hate relationship with school, but seriously, who in their right mind wouldn't?  I love learning, I really do.  With knowledge though, comes responsibility.  I have learned so much, as a history major, about the REAL history of the world.  With that comes my own opinions, as I don't let what I learn in school tell me how to think.  It's interesting, looking at the themes that come out in college and what I draw from them.  Like the history of Racism.  I was just blown away to realize just how racist our country has been and still is.  I really feel like anyone who looks "white" and wants to wave their little flag of how their ancestors were victims of a systematic racism, or how affirmative action is racist, really needs to sit down, shut up, and do the research, instead of repeating a few trite phrases made popular among various powerful racists.  Yes, that opinion directly reflects what I learned in my history class, but even more from that is I've come to realize how sad it is that we, as "white" people generally don't know our own heritage.  Our ancestors sold their souls for assimilation.  Think about it, the American Revolution sparked a wave of revolutionary fever that swept across Europe, not just immediately, but across several generations.  Imagine the "elites" of America at the time.  They were most likely of British descent.  Then all of the sudden (ok, not all of the sudden, but you get the point), masses come from across the ocean at the same time that revolutions are sweeping across Europe.  You want to know what kind of revolutions?  Where the poor and oppressed were standing up to their oppressors and taking control.  The elites of the United States certainly didn't want that, all these poor people coming into the U.S. combined with the slaves and former slaves, the Native Americans, the Hispanics, the Asians...this was a recipe for mass revolution.  Instead, the elites gave a classic line to the poor European newcomers (and the ones who were already here), "At least you're white."  Before that, Irish and Germans were seen as a completely lowly and subservient race to those of the British Isles.  Even the British and the French saw themselves as different races.  So basically our European ancestors sold their soul so they could be "white."  The idea of "white" didn't even exist, not the way it does now, until the mid-1800s.  My point is this, what if our ancestors hadn't bought that load of crap and instead took pride in their heritage?  Would we have some semblance of who we are as "European Americans?"  We'll never know, but it would be nice to carve out some sense of identity the way that the rest of America has done.  You want to know why we see a "Chicano American Studies" or "African American Studies" curriculum in schedules across the Universities of American?  It's because their heritage wasn't sold off to the lowest bidder, they've clung on to that heritage, or rediscovered it with a ferocity that is so intense and strong.  There are no "European American" studies available not because we have fallen victim to the "racist" schools (yeah right), who only want to promote non-white studies, it's because we, European Americans don't care enough.  Now, is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Let me know what you think.