Not singing our anthem is a national disgrace
When I was a kid in the 1950s our schools taught us the National Anthem. I know the words by heart. I can also remember the National Anthem always being played after the very last TV programme, and after the last film at the cinema.
However, I recently asked my grandchildren, aged 10 and 12 and both at schools in Grantham, whether they ever sang the National Anthem at school. They informed me that the schools do not teach the Nation Anthem. Neither of them know the words.
Am I correct in believing that our schools don’t teach kids the National Anthem?
Can this be right and proper? Have our politicians and educationalists decided that our children, the future adults of our country, should not be taught our national song?
We have the Diamond Jubilee coming up soon so if our children are called upon to sing it on the day, none of them will be able to.
I intend to telephone the Head Teacher of my grandkids’ school and ask him why this is so, and if he intends to set about teaching the kids the words.
I suggest anyone who feels as strongly as I do about this contacts their kids’ schools to ask what their policy is, and if anything is going to be done to rectify the situation.
A Widdowson
The Belfry, Grantham
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Weather for Grantham
Thursday 24 May 2012
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Wind direction: North east
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Comments
There are 3 comments to this article
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Cos_I_Said_So_Alright!
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 05:49 PMWow! What a complete failure of reading comprehension! It would be funny if it wasn't such a disturbing indictment against the educational system ;) Educate yourself about what a dark and disturbing this anachronistic prayer hymn to the leaders of a bloody and brutal empire the national anthem is (http:www.telegraph.co.uknewsuknews1571287God-Save-the-Queen-lyrics.html) before judging why anyone, let alone those with no religion, would be offended to have it forced upon them! I take great pride in my country, our compassion as a society, our diverse heritage and multiculturalism, our tenacity to face any obsticle together! I don't need mystical garbage or religious mumbi jumbo forced upon me to do so and the thought of inflicting it on children is just totally wrong! Oh yes, while I'm at it I'll save you from googling the word secular (as in "my son's secular school") It means without religious affiliation! ;)
ææ¯è©
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 04:12 PM@Cos_I_Said_So_Alright! - What are you ranting about? He's on about National Pride in our National Anthem not whether you're a sandal wearing God botherer or not. And what on Earth are you doing to your son? Buy him an Xbox or something - does he really need to be conversing with his mother in his spare time deciding what faith he must follow? It would be interesting to know which school your son does attend - a Church of England one perhaps?
Cos_I_Said_So_Alright!
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 07:25 PMWhy on earth would I want my son's secular school to force my atheist son to sing "God save the queen"? I have, despite my own atheist views, raised my son with knowledge of and heathy respect for all religions, I supported his choice when he was a Christian, I accepted his choice to have a faith in "something" when he decided that he couldn't accept the explanations of things in the bible and I respected his logic when he decided for himself that there was too much suffering in the world for him to believe in a "loving deity". Faith (or, indeed lack of) should be a personal choice, to force it on people denegrates its intrinsic personal value and makes a mockery of it's purpose.
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