Does Christopher Columbus deserve his own national holiday? Provide support for your opinion. Also reply to at least one other classmate.
31 Comments
Amberleigh Varney
9/8/2009 06:01:13 am
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Zain
9/8/2009 07:22:32 am
no i don't think Christopher Columbus deserves a national holiday.
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Zain
9/8/2009 07:42:57 am
uhh i guess this is my comment on a classmate.....
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Ryan Howe
9/8/2009 08:36:59 am
We should NOT recognize Christopher Columbus as a holiday. He never really did anything special. He did find the Americas, but it is not because of him that people are here. He was not the only sailor that was headed west. If Columbus hadn't found the Americas in 1492, then another sailor would have within 5 years or so. Columbus also had nothing to do with the Europeans that settled in leading to the Independence and the life that we now have today. We celebrate Christopher's mistake. In my opinion that should not be a holiday.
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Ryan Howe
9/8/2009 08:40:19 am
Zain has a point. The Vikings also fell upon the Americas. The only reason that Columbus gained credit was becuase he discovered them during the time in which the European countries were looking for more land and power.
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Amberleigh Varney
9/8/2009 10:06:41 am
I agree with Ryan's comment on how if Columbus wouldn't have found the Americas,
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Austin Branchaud
9/8/2009 01:57:55 pm
I do not believe that Columbus should have a holiday. I agree with Ryan, because it's not as though an entire continent could have gone unnoticed for much longer. Man has a feeling of manifest destiny that he must fulfill, and if Columbus hadn't been the one driven to explore and expand, it would have been someone else.
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Brianna Gaston
9/8/2009 08:16:59 pm
I believe that Columbus should be entitled to his own holiday. Even though it's true what Ryan and others said, that if Columbus hadn't found the Americas someone else would have, he still deserves credit. The holiday isn't just about Christopher Columbus, it's about giving credit to the man who discovered a new land. Whoever discovered it gets the credit.
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Paige Luppo
9/9/2009 05:13:37 am
I also agree that Christopher Columbus shouldn't have his own holiday. As it states in Lies, people from other continents had reached the Americas before 1492. I strongly agree with Ryan that if Columbus hadn't made his discovery other people would have within a short amount of time. Also, his purpose from the beginning was not exploration or even trade, but conquest and exploitation, by use of religion. Again, I do not believe that Christopher Columbus should have his own holiday.
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Craig Judy
9/9/2009 10:58:42 am
I think Christopher Columbus does deserve his own holiday. Like, Brianna said, it's not necessarily just for Columbus. The holiday is for the person who discovered the New World. If it wasn't Christopher it would of been someone else, and that would of been their holiday. So no matter what, there would be a __________ Day celebrating the man that discovered America.
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Sarah Hopkins
9/9/2009 11:51:25 am
I have always felt that Christopher Columbus does not deserve a holiday in his recognition. He did not discover the Americas, he only found a world new to him and many other Europeans. Plenty of other people made it to the Americas before he did. Also, it was not a discovery, if there were already people living here. Obviously they found it before he did. But this wasn't a gamer of finders keepers. Columbus took one look and claimed it all as his. This includes the residents, and the acts committed towards the Native Americans were extremely inhumane. Everyone sees the Holocaust as the greatest act of genocide, but they seem to forget about the Indians that were killed by greedy white men. The only reason Christopher Columbus is given the credit for discovering the Americas is because no one else recorded their findings before him. He's just the name and face associated with the discovery of the New World.
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Sarah Hopkins
9/9/2009 11:55:28 am
In response to others, I agree with Ryan and Austin. Columbus only happened upon the Americas. Eventually someone else would have done the same. Even if no one was looking, it would have been found sooner or later by a different person.
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Ted
9/10/2009 08:32:06 am
Christopher Columbus is definitely not the man he was made out to be in grade school. In fact, I'm pretty sure I was taught something along the lines of him being on The Mayflower, which is completely inaccurate. Aside from the elementary description of him, I don't think he deserves the "hero" status we give him. Especially having his own day. Technically, as Zaine pointed out, he didn't even discover the Americas, that credit goes to the Vikings and Leif Erikson. Am I saying that there should be a Leif Erikson Day? No. I think there are enough holidays, we don't need another one about a man who really didn't have much to do with the founding of our country.
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Ted Sharkey
9/10/2009 08:38:27 am
I agree with Zain (sorry I spelled your name wrong last time), Ryan and Austen. If Columbus wouldn't have discovered the huge continent that is the Americas, someone would have eventually. It was only a matter of time, and he got kind of lucky.
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Austin Branchaud
9/10/2009 09:03:58 am
By the way, pretty good points there up at the top Amberleigh!
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Taylor Dean
9/10/2009 10:07:42 am
I don't think that Christopher Columbus really deserves his own holiday. I think that maybe he deserves some credit, however not a whole national holiday. The Indians were already here when Columbus got here, so why does he deserve credit? I think that so many people would deserve credit for traveling over here that we'd have like 5 days dedicated to explorers arriving in America. I just think that we just chose Columbus, to give the day to.
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Taylor Dean
9/10/2009 10:11:20 am
I really liked Amberleigh's examples to support her opinion. I like her point about in Lies and how Columbus just used religion to get over here. I also agree with Ted's point about Columbus being someone totally different now, than what we learned in elementary school. All the bad and cruel things were glossed over back then. I don't know whether teachers thought we weren't old enough or they didn't want to admit what really went on in 1492 and on after Columbus.
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9/11/2009 05:38:03 am
As said in Lies My Teacher told Me, “How can one person discover what another already knows and owns?” Christopher Columbus did not discover America! The Vikings had already come to America on the Bering Land Bridge hundreds of years before Columbus’ time. Columbus does not deserve his own national holiday. He may have been one of the first recorded people to begin settling the Americas permanently, but it wasn’t all a happy story. The Spanish treated the Native Americans horribly. They took over and pushed the Indians out. Columbus also devastated the Indian populations by bringing diseases with him. Should we be honoring and recognizing someone who was the start of this? Many in the world looked up to Columbus and followed his bad examples. They accepted the mistreatment and abuse of natives. It’s nice to recognize him for being a major part of history, but does he really need his own holiday? There are other people who have made a major impact in our world who deserve more credit. Where’s their national holiday?
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9/11/2009 05:39:16 am
I agree with Taylor. Columbus does deserve some credit, but not a national holiday. He had a major affect on our world today but, not all good came from him entering America. He did not have any respect for the natives of the new found land and he just pushed them out. Do we want to honor a man who did these things with a national holiday? Good point Taylor!
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brian winters
9/12/2009 01:29:21 am
i agree with Shara completely. i believe that Christopher Columbus day should not be counted as a national holiday. there a more important icons like Rosa Parks. Christopher Columbus doesn't deserve to be listed with names like George Washington, M.L.K, or Abram Lincoln. Christopher Columbus discovered what would later be the United States by accident anyways. Plus he was not a great leader or hero. So i believe that Christopher Columbus having a national holiday would bring disrespect to more famous icons who had to go through times of hostility and sacrifice. that is why i believe Christopher Columbus should not have a national holiday he clearly doesnt deserve it.
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brian
9/12/2009 01:30:46 am
sorry i spelled sarah wrong.
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Bobby
9/12/2009 07:10:51 am
It is true Columbus was not the first to discover the Americas. I believe because of that he does not deserve his own day. The only reason he did get his own holiday is because of what the grade school teachers have taught everyone in school. For most people there is never really any light shed on the different discoverers that came before Columbus after grade school so everyone remembers him as the first person to make the discovery. The reason Columbus is remembered as the "discoverer of Americas" is because of the high population in Europe and how fast word of his discovery spread. Since the credit cannot go to any one person, there should not be a day honoring the discovery of America.
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Ashley Coveney
9/12/2009 07:21:16 am
I think even though it was an accidental discovery that Columbus should be celebrated for his finding of America. Many had come to the land but never settled. Columbus was the one to report the discovery to Spain and start the cycle that turnred the land to the country we know and love today. The fact that Columbus has his own day instead of some others who have contributed so much to America is shocking, but I feel he has his day rightfully.
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Ashley Coveney
9/12/2009 07:27:17 am
in reply to Ryan Howe. Ryan states that if it were not for Chris Columbus someone else would of discovered America. If someone else had the day would of been named after them. I understand the point he was trying to get at was that it was nothing too special because it would happened sooner or later, and I completely agree with that.
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Bobby
9/12/2009 12:20:26 pm
Sarah, I agree about Columbus not deserving his own holiday, but even though their were Indians already in the Americas I think it could still be called a discovery. The reason I think it is still a discovery is because the Americas were long forgotten since there was no recorded history of it for thousands of years. Even though the Indians were already here, I think it was a discovery to the rest of the world.
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Nat
9/13/2009 12:31:25 pm
I agree with just about everyone else, Christopher Columbus should not have his own holiday. He was a stupid explorer who founded america by complete misfortune he was actually looking for the west indies and he just happened to stumble on the us eventually making everything worse. he enslaves, and killed his enemies and led hundreds of executions of the natives, forced them off there own land; some of those natives were there hundreds maybe thousands of years before him. he took what they spent there whole lives building up for there money, food and even there women like varney said. who did he think he was? this holiday should be offensive to the native americans. like zain said, the fact that we classify him as a hero is an outrage, kids are getting taught this when there young only to grow older and realize what really happened, like were doing now. so whats the point of brainwashing them to glorify a lying, barbaric "explorer" when he didn't even know where he was at.
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Craig Judy
9/15/2009 10:43:16 am
Okay, Mrs. Tanner, this is my comment where I don't reply to another student's response. Christopher Columbus is overall a pretty sketchy guy.
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Austin Branchaud
9/15/2009 12:07:59 pm
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Austin Branchaud
9/15/2009 12:12:14 pm
I agree with Brianna, she has a good point with whoever finds it gets it, but it still doesn't need to be celebrated every year with a day off. Especially if I don't get one. By the way Craig Judy. It's nobody. Not know body.
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Zac Lantis
10/5/2009 10:21:42 am
I do not believe that Christopher Columbus should get a holiday due to the fact that in doing so he was involved with the killings of over a million Indians. The fact that we were told that he was a hero is a definite slap in the face for our intelligence. Vikings ended up finding this place way before Chris Columbus and we do not celebrate them.
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Zac Lantis
10/5/2009 10:24:21 am
I completely agree with Amberleigh about all the bad things Columbus did to those people but Craig does also have a point that we have to give the recognition to someone and that someone happens to be a pretty sketchy dude.
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