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Open all the borders, close all the schools. A radical thought. Perhaps even so radical as to be dismissed either as mockery or incendiarism. And yet when a friend offers this as the solution to war, to strife, to the struggle so many have accepted as an intrinsic part of life, it seems so obvious. Here we sit, all of us, at every location in the globe, isolated by imaginary lines drawn by mapmakers of old or plotted using state-of-the-art GPS technology. We allow these arbitrary divisions to cause death and destruction by clinging ever so tightly to the identity formed by them. I won’t let go, I won’t. I belong to this portion of the globe. This line distinguishes me from you. We are not the same. I am here. You are there. We create obstacles to traversing these boundaries. We sneak around them. We have things stamped upon entry. We believe so firmly that borders exist, we do not question them. I am American; I live within these meridians and therefore it makes me so. Where does this fervent desire to identify oneself with a region come from?  

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America … ” And so begins the inculcation. Even before our children can critically interpret information, our schools are molding future Americans. Curriculums create boundaries. Graduation from high school after 13 years of schooling, including kindergarten, prepares you to be an American, but how about to be an inquisitive, compassionate, engaged human being?

My remedy?  Close the schools. Do we need to know Shakespeare? Chemistry?  Should everyone be required to read the same books and do the same number of math problems?  As if there exists one standard body of knowledge, which any successful being must attain. That certainly depends on your definition of success, but for now, please, do not think for yourself until you’ve been properly fed.  

We must stifle individuality, creativity, expression. If we don’t stay on task and check off these many bullet points from the list of topics to be covered — it’s hard to remember who exactly provided them, probably God? — these children will suffer. They will not integrate well into American culture. Gasp.  Requiring each student to learn the same information, in the same order, at the same rate, seems preposterous. We are not all the same, even within the confines of the United States. But managing education in such a way is efficient. In doing so, we set the stage for individuals not only to expect but to crave homogeneity. With a system that demands sameness, whether in interpreting historical documents or reading renaissance poetry, students are shown that this is good, easy, and correct.

I know you have questions and interests, but we can’t address those here. You see, it’s just not in the curriculum, and if we focus attention on you, the rest will suffer. We are taught time and again to capitulate to the greater good, even though our individual selves may not feel that such acquiescence accomplishes good.

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Sprinkle all these lessons with a few nationalistic underpinnings, like honoring our flag and raising and lowering it during special occasions, and we have ourselves a sovereign state. Yeehaaw. We must now secure the borders and wage war with any who threatens us. This war occasionally escalates to a physical battle but generally manifests itself as the desire to keep others out when not to our benefit.  

The U.S. House of Representatives recently introduced tough immigration legislation, which triggered rallies across the country in support of immigrant rights. On the National Mall, thousands of people gathered — Peruvians, Mexicans, Senegalese, Eritreans, Indians, Koreans … it would seem as though every nationality were represented. But there persists a mindset that we must find a superficial way to distinguish residents — the residents from the alien intruders. You there can claim a stake to this fraction of the globe, but you sir, who also live and work here, may not. You who lack the necessary paperwork — dated, signed, and notarized — YOU are NOT American.  

What is American? Is it the strongest military in the world, the most robust economy, the highest standard of living — or is it that looming body of knowledge we all acquired at the same rate, in the same order, to the same end? From what are we hiding behind these borders? The thought of losing all that, the thought that being American comes with it a sense of security not conferred elsewhere and therefore we must deny entry by some bureaucratic decree to those not deemed worthy?

Is there something within these borders that makes us unique? The Rocky Mountains? The Chicago Bulls? We are America. We are strong, we are free.  

So open the borders. What would become of the people, the cultures? Would nationalities blur, and is that wrong? Do we need these nationalities? What are they providing us, aside from a sense of security in being part of one — and a wall to keep out the others?

Clinging to these border distinctions provides us with enough anonymity to carry out horrific acts of greed, fear, revenge, or just plain evil, and to evade any personal responsibility for them. After all, it’s for the good of the country.

Let’s do away with borders. Erase every last one of them from them maps and destroy the curriculums that embed them. Perhaps then we can realize that being an American means nothing, and we’ll stop trying to boss others around, take their stuff, and keep them out. “I want that. You need to do this. And get off my property you mongrel!” Yeah, that’s pretty much what we’re doing. Who knew we were so ridiculous.  

Brigid Moriarty