Sunday, October 07, 2012

Should we celebrate Columbus Day or Exploration Day?


Recently I watched a hangout on Google+ where Nicole Gugliucci of CosmoQuest interviewed Tom Diehl about a proposal he is involved with to rededicate Columbus Day to Exploration Day, and within minutes of watching the hangout and listing to Tom I was hooked on the idea.

Tom Diehl along with Karl Frank and Dr. Rod Wright are putting forth a proposal that Columbus Day be rededicated as Exploration Day. You may ask why should Columbus Day be rededicated as Exploration Day? Well in my opinion this quote from Karl Frank in this Discovery.com article best sums up the rationale behind the proposal:

"Rededicating Columbus Day as Exploration Day will allow those who wish to commemorate his accomplishments to continue doing so," says Frank. "But for those who find Columbus's role in history disquieting, it will enable them to celebrate the day in a very different way. Exploration Day covers the depth and breath of America’s rich history of exploration, research and discovery. Thus, Exploration Day will be something that unites rather than divides." (1)

That quote drives home the one point that I really like about the Exploration Day proposal, and that is that Exploration Day would be an all inclusive celebration of exploration that anyone in the US can embrace. Also given that the holiday would be near the start of the school year it would also be a great springboard to get students more involved in exploring science, technology, engineering, and math; also known as STEM.

Below is the video of the Google+ hangout Nicole Gugliucci, and Tom Diehl that is well worth watching. I am hopeful that once you watch the video and check out the included links to the Exploration Day web site, and several articles, you too will also be a supporter of Exploration Day:



Links to the website and articles:

Happy Exploration Day ~ Jim

Credits:
(1) Discovery.com