Pupils Take On Some Burning Issues : Patriotism More Than Red, White and Blue

The debate, on a warm, sunny day during the first week of summer school, centered on the merits of a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning.

“Flag burning should be forbidden because the flag is a symbol of freedom for the country and the people who died for it,” said 12-year-old Chad Robbins, a sixth-grader at Lampson Elementary School in Garden Grove.

“Patriotism means freedom of speech and freedom to give an opinion,” countered Janina Martinez, 11, also a student in Margo Kinder’s sixth-grade summer school class at Lampson. “People who burn flags should be fined for vandalism, but they should not be arrested.”

With President Bush calling for a constitutional amendment outlawing desecration of the flag, and the Fourth of July coming up, national spirit abounds at local elementary schools.

At Santa Ana’s Greenville Fundamental School, for example, students clad in red, white and blue T-shirts hold 15-minute assemblies where they recite historical poetry and sing patriotic songs. At Lampson, students ponder the meaning of the Constitution phrase by phrase and study the history of the Statue of Liberty. At Diamond Elementary in Santa Ana, students who have demonstrated good citizenship are recognized each quarter, and graduating fifth-graders recently chose “Fifty Nifty States” and “The Greatest American Hero” as their theme songs.

If patriotism means good citizenship, pride in flag, country, mom and apple pie, then it is surely alive and well in Orange County schools.

And despite some concern that overemphasis of the red, white and blue leads to conditioned, uncritical thinking, most educators agree that young students benefit from a little well-reasoned, patriotic seasoning.

“Providing that kind of instruction is very important because students don’t automatically have a feeling for the country and know the meaning of the symbols,” said Susan Johns, principal of Greenville.

Citizenship Instruction

The California education code requires instruction in citizenship from kindergarten through the 12th grade, and classes are also required to pledge allegiance to the flag each day.

But individual schools and teachers play an important role in deciding what kids learn about patriotism.

“Patriotism means so many different things,” said Harriet Bacenhus, assistant superintendent of elementary education in the Orange Unified School District. “With so many immigrants in our school systems, we teach kids (that) good citizenship means accepting others who are different. Nowadays, there is an emphasis on accepting handicapped children and adults as having equal status.”

In the citizenship program at Diamond Elementary, kids learn about the importance of personal independence and how self-pride is related to pride in school and country, said Assistant Principal Jean Talarico.

Patriotic topics and historical figures are woven throughout the curriculum so that students might learn about Thomas Edison or Martin Luther King Jr. in literature class or re-enact the Boston Tea Party in social studies class.

“We give them an education about our history because the more we make them aware of what our country is about the more they will be able to show a sense of pride and respect,” Talarico said.

History of Flag

At Greenville, teachers are provided with a resource book that addresses various patriotism topics, including information on the history of the flag and how to display it and on the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem.

And there is a book of rousing songs--15 of them--for students to learn.

Kindergartners start out with such traditionals as “Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “There Are Many Flags and Lands.”

By the time they finish the fifth grade, students are able to warble the verses of everything from “America the Beautiful” to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and even “The Marine Hymn.”

“The kids are very proud of the fact they can sing the songs by heart,” said Greenville principal Johns.

While learning the words to the national anthem may not seem like much, educators say there is value in such instruction, and they urge discussion of controversial topics, such as the Alaskan oil spill and acquired immune deficiency syndrome--AIDS.

For example, the recent Supreme Court decision that flag burning is protected under the free-speech clause of the First Amendment--coming only days before the Fourth of July celebration--has brought more debate over whether our national symbols carry as much worth as the principles they stand for.

Understand Constitution

Young students must be versed in the complexities of such issues if they are to carry with them an understanding and appreciation of the Constitution as adults, educators said.

“I’m not aware of any studies about patriotism in schools, but on an anecdotal level, it seems to be working among a great majority of the population,” said Bernard Kravitz, a professor of education at Cal State Fullerton. “Citizens have responded at times of crises and war or when they perceive a threat to democracy, as in Watergate and even the Iran-Contra hearings. The fact that a great majority of the public was alarmed (that those events could occur) is evidence that schools are having an impact on students.”

Still, Kravitz noted, some educators criticize citizenship activities in schools as more indoctrination than education and question whether children should be forced to pledge allegiance and engage in other patriotic displays.

“The argument is that a democracy forces citizens to make up their own minds, and if you indoctrinate kids, you don’t prepare them to think for themselves. In the long run it is harmful because people are being told what to think without being told why, and they may be more easily swayed by demagogues.”

But most educators do not dispute the importance of conveying a core set of traditional values, such as honesty and freedom of speech, Kravitz added.

Indeed, nearly all the students engaged in debate at Greenville equated patriotism with being free to express their opinions. And they said they have already learned that such freedoms are a privilege not shared worldwide.

“I think we always have to remember how lucky we are to be in this country,” said 12-year-old Sean Fox.