European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 25, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday sunday december 25/26,1993 commentary the stars and stripes Page 15 despite christmases past some a the invention of modern christinas got a boost 150 years ago from a Book that begins with three a festive words a Marley was a a. In 1343, Charles Dickens that Volcano of victorian sentimentality erupted with a Christmas Carol. Christmas was making a comeback. When Oliver Cromwell was lord protector he protected England from Christmas which puritans said was Quot an extra Etc forget full Esse of Christ by giving Liberty to Camall and sensual of course to puritans a Fruitcake was a dangerous Delight. Christmas in Mcrorie England had become a rollicking Good time after the Norman Conquest in George f. Will to prevent the renewal of life. In one of life a Nice carols Christmas Trees a German tradition May have been introduced to America during the revolutionary War by hessian mercenaries of the sort that George Washington routed from Trenton after crossing the Dela Ware on Christmas night 1776. The puritans brought to new England a cromwellian detestation of Christmas the Celebration of which was made a crime in Massachusetts in 1659. That edict was repealed in 1681, but in 1686 the governor needed two soldiers to escort him to Christmas services. In 1706, a Boston mob smashed the windows in a Church holding Christmas yorkers dissolute even then arid southerners always Cylc rated Christmas from the 17th Century on but As late As 1874 Henry Ward Beecher americans most prominent preacher said Quot to me Christmas is a foreign Manque ported French flair. By 1252, Henry Iii was slaying 600 oxen to go with the Salmon pies and roasted peacocks. By the 1640s, Cromwell was not amused. Besides the second syllable of Quot Christmas suggested a popish plot. So the House of commons sat on Christmas Days and sheriffs were sent Forth to require merchants to open for business. Pro and anti Christmas factions rioted. The puritans were bullies but were not wrong when they said that Christmas observations in december had their origins in Pagan festivals of the Winter solstice and no one knew in what season Christ was born. Some say that if shepherds really were tending their flocks in. The i Elofs that night it must not have been Winter when sheep in Palestine were penned at night. Some Early christians in Egypt fixed Christ a birth at May 20, and dates were suggested in every month before dec. 25 became the consensus Choice. That Choice coincided with some rival religions celebrations of the rebirth of the Sun symbolized by candles and by what would come to be called Yule logs. Pagans had traditionally decked their Halls with boughs of Holly evergreens and Mistletoe to symbolize Winters inability the birth of Christmas in its modern form As a festival of sentiment and material comforts was made possible by the Cooling of religious passions. In 1823, the Troy . Sentinel published anonymously Clement Clark Moore a decidedly secular poem beginning Quot twas the night before Christmas. Forty years later Thomas Nasi the Illustrator and political cartoonist who gave us the democratic Donkey and Republican elephant popularized the modern image of Santa Claus a Jolly one Man shopping mall. It was not until 1885 that All Federal workers were Given Christmas Day off. President Chester Arthur an otherwise sound fellow signed that Law. Franklin Roosevelt discerned Christmas potential As a counter cyclical program and moved thanksgiving from the last thursday to the third thursday in november in order to get Christmas shopping humming sooner. Dickens who did so much to define the modern Christmas did so with virtually no reference to religion. He was just 31 in 1843, still tormented by memories of Youthful privation a a his father in debtors prison himself toiling in a blacking factory a and intensely interested in child labor and the conditions of the poor. A Christmas Caro written in haste and rapturously received by the rapidly expanding Reading Public epitomized the Dickens whom Orwell was to describe As Quot generously Orwell distilled Dickens doctrine into 10 words Quot if men would behave decently the world would be decent.�?�. On the eve of a revolutionary Era in Europe a 1848 was just five years away a Dickens said that a change of hearts was the key to changing society. Scrooge did not need to be trundled in a Timbrel to a Guillotine or even have his property expropriated. A few ghosts and a winsome child named Tim would suffice for a conversion experience. In the end Scrooge was still a capitalist but a Prince of a Guy. Karl Marx who in 1849 settled in London not far from Dickens ardently admired Dickens depiction of social ills. But if Marx understood the writers message he must have gagged. Count that among the Good that Christmas has done. C Tho Washington pa3t of All the Christmas presents in this nation none is More Beautiful or meaningful than the $5uu million that philanthropist Walter h. Annenberg offered last week in support of the Campaign for Public school Reform. By vastly increasing the Money available to Back experimental efforts in communities around the country and challenging others to match his gesture the retired publisher Art collector and ambassador made this Christmas a a joyous occasion for those of us who have a love affair for learning and who believe trial Quality education is the great Hope for the future. The quoted words Are those Secretary of education Richard Riley used in introducing Annenberg at the White House announcement ceremony on dec. W. Tottey capture the spirit of this gift precisely. The initial Grants will go to three groups that Are at the Center of building new models of education in the United states. The coalition of essential schools headed by Brown University s Theodore r. Sizer has More than 500 schools participating in experiments applying Loca variants of principles found to characterize Success u schools. Sizer and his colleagues help create where the students take responsibility for a heir o n learning with teachers Quot couching them in Hurff forts. Its proven to be a More effective Model than the traditional pattern of students reciting Back the ins Rue to Ftp As amp Quot Shoou development corporation a private sector venture launched by the Bush administration and headed by its former of education David Kearn sponsors a variety or Quot break the Mold Quot schools designed by innovators inside and outside the ranks of professional educators Thev include schools that remain open Well into the evening for adult education and schools employing teachers who have subject matter expertise and not just education credentials. The third recipient is the Denver based education commission of the states the primary resource Center for governors who arc pushing education Reform plans. Its president Frank Newman has been in the forefront of the Effort to develop what he Calls a Quot result Sori in Ted approach by the states holding schools to Tough performance standards but letting principals and teachers devise the methods that work Best for their students. Annenberg Grants will also support innovative efforts in the nine largest school districts and Quot electronic libraries Quot that will give Rural and Small town schools Access to the same Rich diet of learning materials As the. Best City and suburban schools now enjoy. Although not yet announced Annenberg Grants will also Back experimental efforts in school to work and High school to col luge transition. In the 10 years since the a nation at risk report on the sorry state of americans schools was issued and the seven years since the governors began their concerted drive to lift education standards in their states the complacency of the education establishment has Given Way to much stirring of the pot. Classroom teachers administrators and education school Deans have been forced to re examine what they Are doing. The concept of National performance standards was David s. Broder j first championed by the governors and then endorsed jointly by them and president Bush in the autumn of 1989,. Next year with any Luck Congress will write these education goals into Law by enacting what president Clinton Calls Quot a Standard of excellence by which All of us Down to the smallest school in the smallest Community can judge our collective but As the president also acknowledges a fall these things have to happen school by school neighbourhood by neighbourhood student by by targeting this largest gift in the history of Public education to groups that Are the main catalysts for change in education Annenberg has helped give the Reform Effort critical mass and momentum. As Colorado gov. Roy Romero a Democrat and a Leader in school Reform and the incoming chairman of the education commission of the states told me after the White House ceremony Quot we have Many successful experiments in individual schools. But if we re going to change the education system we have to recognize it is a system. The Annenberg Grants will Speed up our ability to move to systemic this is an Only in America Story. The Annenberg Fortune had its origins with his father who used very Tough tactics to make the daily racing form the Quot Bible for bettors at Bookie joints and race tracks. The coins those gamblers placed in Annenberg a hands while looking fir the usually mythical big payout now come Back to help Rescue the institution with the Best payoff record in american history a the Public school system. What a perfect Holiday Gilt. C the Washington Post a
