Re: Making young kids recite national anthems in schools.
Posted: Wed May 08, 2013 9:20 pm
Porky Pig recites the Pledge during WWII.
Congress added the "missing part" later.
Hows that for trivia?
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https://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=190442
Juan_Bottom wrote:So she tells Aaron and I that if we wont say the pledge, she wants a full report on why we refuse to say it.
Juan_Bottom wrote:And homework makes me angry.
Juan_Bottom wrote:So I tell her that she should make the rest of the class write a report on why they choose to say it as well.
thegreekdog wrote: And I'm pretty sure US public school students are no longer required to recite the pledge of allegience (honestly, the phrase "pledge of allegiance" rubs me the wrong way more than requiring kids to say it).
Woodruff wrote:thegreekdog wrote: And I'm pretty sure US public school students are no longer required to recite the pledge of allegience (honestly, the phrase "pledge of allegiance" rubs me the wrong way more than requiring kids to say it).
They're required in Nebraska, as of this year.
Woodruff wrote:I don't know how you could possibly consider it NOT indoctrination. The ENTIRE POINT of the recitation is indoctrination...what other reason is there? Perhaps you can point it out for me, if it's not indoctrination?
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855–1931), who was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850–1898). The original "Pledge of Allegiance" was published in the September 8 issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. The event was conceived and promoted by James B. Upham, a marketer for the magazine, as a campaign to instill the idea of American nationalism by selling flags to public schools and magazines to students. According to author Margarette S. Miller this was in line with Upham's vision which he "would often say to his wife: 'Mary, if I can instill into the minds of our American youth a love for their country and the principles on which it was founded, and create in them an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into the Constitution, I shall not have lived in vain.'"
Woodruff wrote:tzor wrote:True indoctrination comes with a sugar coated package. You should check out the real indoctrination that goes on in schools these days.
Such as?
Mother Earth: Hi guys! It’s me, Mother Earth. I bet you never thought I would come and chat with you today. You know, the big old world you are sitting on. Reach down and touch it - it’s me! You can jump on me, you can dance on me, you can somersault on me, you can dive into my waters, roll around on my grass, dig in my sand, and wiggle your toes in my squishy mud [building pictures in their minds]. I am the whole world: I am the oceans [point to the blue water masses on the mask], I am the land [point to the green land mass on the mask], I am the forests, I am the mountains. I hold all of the animals in the world in my arms, all the fish in the sea, all the butterflies in the air, and all the people on the earth. I am your planet, I belong to you and you belong to me and together we live a happy life.
Mother Earth: Now, I need you to go out into the world and teach all the little children and their families, too. You get to make a puppet that looks just like me and then tell my story to all your friends. You can pretend to be me!
Woodruff wrote:PLAYER57832 wrote:However, there is something about saying the pledge and listening to the national anthem that just.. matter.
Why do they matter, if those saying them don't even understand what they're saying? Please explain how that could POSSIBLY matter.
BigBallinStalin wrote:It's difficult to say, and I want to agree with you that kids don't really understand it, but those years of reciting that "mantra" may plant some kind of seed from which grows that tenuous feeling of belonging to something greater than oneself--that sense of belonging to a Nation-State. An appeal to one's individual sovereignty or rights--at the expense of the State and its perceived "national interests"--may become neglected because one belongs to the Nation ("of course"). One is an American and should abide by that foresworn allegiance or feeling of belonging.
Now, that could all be spurious, but the Pledge of Allegiance may instill that sense of belonging which later grows in some people's minds.
But if this is true, then this isn't good for it imbues in one that unquestioning feeling of Nationalism. It's that feeling expressed from people's mouths and minds when they call for a war against Afghanistan, Iraq, or for a War on Drugs, Crime, or Terrorism. It's difficult to clarify, but it seems tied to people's compliance to be taxed to provide Whatever because it's for the People, for the Nation. The individual's identity becomes one with the Nation.
It's just weird stuff, and the Dude does not abide.
tzor wrote:I would call it an exercise in patriotic fervor.
...
Mary, if I can instill into the minds of our American youth a love for their country and the principles on which it was founded, and create in them an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into the Constitution, I shall not have lived in vain.
Woodruff wrote:Gillipig wrote:Bones2484 wrote:Gillipig wrote:Better than most of the shit we're being indoctrinated with everyday.
Such as?
You really can't think of any!? Wow, I don't think I want to waste any time discussing it with you if you need to ask me that. Watch the news, that should give you a taste of indoctrination.
It appears to me that you're the one who couldn't think of any...
tzor wrote:Woodruff wrote:I don't know how you could possibly consider it NOT indoctrination. The ENTIRE POINT of the recitation is indoctrination...what other reason is there? Perhaps you can point it out for me, if it's not indoctrination?
I would call it an exercise in patriotic fervor.
tzor wrote:While I am not going to pull a Mike Church on you, the only item of indoctrination was so effectively incorporated into the American spirit after the end of the Civil War (that is the notion that the "United States" is a singular noun and not a plural one ... "One Nation") that there is no real need to "indoctrinate" the children in the notion. (As a side note the early founders would have screamed at the thoughts in the pledge.)
tzor wrote:So that leaves us with the pure capitalistic motive; the pledge is an excuse to sell flags. You can't pledge without a flag in every classroom.
tzor wrote:Woodruff wrote:tzor wrote:True indoctrination comes with a sugar coated package. You should check out the real indoctrination that goes on in schools these days.
Such as?
Global warming claptrap (and I'm not talking about real science but "feel good" Sesame Street level total fluff stuff) that tries to put a political message inside a nice wrapping of a song or a slogan or an image.
tzor wrote:Global Warming Activities for KindergartenMother Earth: Hi guys! It’s me, Mother Earth. I bet you never thought I would come and chat with you today. You know, the big old world you are sitting on. Reach down and touch it - it’s me! You can jump on me, you can dance on me, you can somersault on me, you can dive into my waters, roll around on my grass, dig in my sand, and wiggle your toes in my squishy mud [building pictures in their minds]. I am the whole world: I am the oceans [point to the blue water masses on the mask], I am the land [point to the green land mass on the mask], I am the forests, I am the mountains. I hold all of the animals in the world in my arms, all the fish in the sea, all the butterflies in the air, and all the people on the earth. I am your planet, I belong to you and you belong to me and together we live a happy life.
Gillipig wrote:Woodruff wrote:Gillipig wrote:Bones2484 wrote:Gillipig wrote:Better than most of the shit we're being indoctrinated with everyday.
Such as?
You really can't think of any!? Wow, I don't think I want to waste any time discussing it with you if you need to ask me that. Watch the news, that should give you a taste of indoctrination.
It appears to me that you're the one who couldn't think of any...
Then you should fine tune your senses. I often walk away from discussions I know I can win. If I feel like I'm talking to a brick then I just go "f*ck it, this is a waste of time" and do something else.
Haggis_McMutton wrote:Yes, that's exactly it.
And in a roundabout way, Player and tzor's defending of the pledge seem to not only acknowledge, but embrace that fact. As if it's a good thing for a person to identify a higher purpose for himself as being not an ideal, but rather the country he happened to be born with.
Gillipig wrote:Woodruff wrote:Gillipig wrote:Bones2484 wrote:Gillipig wrote:Better than most of the shit we're being indoctrinated with everyday.
Such as?
You really can't think of any!? Wow, I don't think I want to waste any time discussing it with you if you need to ask me that. Watch the news, that should give you a taste of indoctrination.
It appears to me that you're the one who couldn't think of any...
Then you should fine tune your senses. I often walk away from discussions I know I can win. If I feel like I'm talking to a brick then I just go "f*ck it, this is a waste of time" and do something else.
thegreekdog wrote:Haggis_McMutton wrote:Yes, that's exactly it.
And in a roundabout way, Player and tzor's defending of the pledge seem to not only acknowledge, but embrace that fact. As if it's a good thing for a person to identify a higher purpose for himself as being not an ideal, but rather the country he happened to be born with.
I don't necessarily disagree with you, I simply think that identifying with a higher purpose vis-a-vis "loyalty" to the United States, would give the person some sort of benefit (apart from the psychological). Were it not for loyal Americans, perhaps I would not be in the place (economically, socially) that I'm in right now. I have no problem identifying with the United States or being patriotic so long as it is done with some knowledge.
thegreekdog wrote:Other than the annoyance of having to recite the pledge of allegiance or sing the national anthem, why is it a bad thing? What bad things does reciting the pledge or singing the anthem cause?
Woodruff wrote:My problem with it, as I stated previously, is that it accomplishes NOTHING, yet wastes classroom time.
Haggis_McMutton wrote:And in a roundabout way, Player and tzor's defending of the pledge seem to not only acknowledge, but embrace that fact. As if it's a good thing for a person to identify a higher purpose for himself as being not an ideal, but rather the country he happened to be born with.
Woodruff wrote:So you don't believe that our kids should, at a very young age, consider the Earth to be a living eco-system? I'm a little confused here. I didn't watch the video, so if there's more than what you presented in the quotes, I'm interested.
Mother Earth: I have begun to get a bit of a fever because some of the people who live on me are making me sick with the dirty gas in their cars, stinky smoke that comes from factories, and icky garbage. You might have felt this way once if you ever got into a car that had been sitting parked in the sun for a long time with the windows shut. When it gets this hot inside of a car the ice cream melts, the flowers you picked bend over and lose their petals, and you feel really uncomfortable because it is SO hot.
I am getting warmer and warmer, just like this car and the reason I am getting hot is because when certain things called fossil fuels are burned the smoke from the burning goes up into the sky to create a kind of a roof on top of the sky! Can you imagine what a roof on top of the sky would be like? The gas people put into cars is a fossil fuel and when you drive around in the car, all the smoke that comes out of the pipe in the back goes up into the sky. When so much smoke goes up into the sky it builds a big roof over the sky and this roof keeps all the hot air from going back out to space, just like the roof of a car! With this roof and heat, I am starting to get sick and my sickness is called Global Warming. I came to you because I knew you would understand and I know how smart you are, and I know you can help. A lot of grownups are helping too. But, I need the help of all the little children of the world to make me better because, if we work together, we can make me a happy and healthy place to live for all the little children and animals in the world.
tzor wrote:Woodruff wrote:My problem with it, as I stated previously, is that it accomplishes NOTHING, yet wastes classroom time.
I wouldn't say it accomplishes "nothing." At the very least it is a common distracting activity that focuses the random attention of children before the start of class to a common activity, severing any distractions they had before the start of class and allowing them to refocus on the first class of the day.
Phatscotty wrote:What if the pledge were "with Equality and Justice for all..."
Would anyone feel differently?
tzor wrote:Woodruff wrote:So you don't believe that our kids should, at a very young age, consider the Earth to be a living eco-system? I'm a little confused here. I didn't watch the video, so if there's more than what you presented in the quotes, I'm interested.
I get a little nervous when people try to anthropomorphise a planet. I get nervous when you have to simplify things to the point of making things incorrect.
tzor wrote:Oh and hot air going into space? Let's not tell our kids fantasy.
Woodruff wrote:You get nervous when people have to simplify things FOR KINDERGARTNERS?
Woodruff wrote:<cough>IntelligentDesign<cough><cough>
tzor wrote:Woodruff wrote:You get nervous when people have to simplify things FOR KINDERGARTNERS?
That's not simplification. That's pseudo-religious indoctrination, brainwashing and evangelization. The whole exercise is to get kindergarteners to go against their parents.
tzor wrote:Woodruff wrote:<cough>IntelligentDesign<cough><cough>
As the term is generally understood? Yes it's horrid and should not be taught ... definitely fantasy.