Last evening I enjoyed the 7:00 PM Praise the Lord program on TBN with Pat Boone as host. He played a CD of himself singing America accompanied by comments about the disappearance of patriotic songs. Immediately I wanted to tell him what happened, that it wasn’t an accident – but by design. Of course, many miles separated us, I was home alone, and he was in a studio somewhere, and never the twain shall meet!
No doubt he never heard of UNESCO or the infamous booklets that U.N. outfit produced in 1946, even though a battle royal ensued in California and Los Angeles, commencing about 1951 and continuing for a couple years. One of the more notorious statements that outfit published was “As long as the child breathes the poisoned air of nationalism, education in world-mindedness can produce only rather precarious results. As we have pointed out, it is frequently the family that infects the child with extreme nationalism. “
Much of the education leadership in the U.S. who agreed with that philosophy were Columbia U teachers, professors and graduates. One of them, I. L. Kandel, in 1946 the year of UNESCO’s birth, announced: “each member nation, if it is to carry out the obligations of its membership, has a duty to see to it that nothing in the curriculum, courses of study, and textbooks, is contrary to UNESCO’S aim…..The poison of aggressive nationalism injected into children’s minds is as dangerous for world stability as the manufacture of armaments. On one, as in the other, supervision of some kind by an international agent is urgent.”
So schoolbooks had to be purged. Anything suggestive of patriotism had to go. It didn’t take long. Ten years later a California State Senate Committee reported on the disappearance in American history books of “thrilling stories of the bravery and devotion of our Nation’s founders….Six of the most treasured sayings of our great American patriots were:
“I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” (Nathan Hale)
“I have not yet begun to fight.” (John Paul Jones)
“We have met the enemy and they are ours.” (Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry)
“Don’t give up the ship!” (Captain James Lawrence)
“Give me liberty or give me death!!” (Patrick Henry)
“God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.” (Daniel Webster._
Fourteen 1920 history texts contained these 6 sayings quoted 45 times.
None of the 40 modern (1959) texts mentioned the quotations of John Paul Jones and Commodore Perry. Only one quoted Nathan Hale. The words of Captain James Lawrence are quoted in 2 out of 10 modern history texts in use in many states.
“Give me liberty or give me death” by Patrick Henry appears in only three books among the modern history texts reviewed.” *(This was a finding in 1956, and no doubt, zero today)
Well, I forgot. We were talking about the music, patriotic music we used to sing in school. It’s on its way out, too, has been ever since 1946 when we entered into membership in that iniquitous pro-Communist organization known as UNESCO. It would take a book to tell you all about it (in fact, I wrote one: In the Presence of Our Enemies, just to tell American parents how it has sinned against us.)
Anyway, back to music. In the 17th report of the California Senate Committee on Education, they had this to say about a new series of music textbooks adopted in 1958: “The importance of a music series in building patriotic citizen should not be minimized. Throughout history, the cultural heritage, love of country, and patriotic spirit have been handed down from one generation to another through the medium of music and song in every country. Songs represent a part of our national identity.
“To preserve our identity as a Nation it is imperative that we renew the spirit of patriotism with each generation through music and song. This report was prepared because it appears to this committee that the new Music for Living Series does not provide for stirring patriotic songs as adequately as the New Music Horizons series which was replaced.
“Songs should reflect our pride in such words as brave, loyal, and bold patriots, free, free men, freedom, liberty, and the Flag. The idea of serving one’s country needs to be stressed through song today more than at any time in our history. America is a great Nation with a great national heritage and we should have songs filled with praises of her. ….We question, the policy of purchasing a new series of textbooks which are inferior in patriotic content and which inadequately portray our American heritage……….
“A check was made to determine how many times the words, “freedom,” and “liberty” occurred in these songs. For example in the sixth grade song book just discarded, the word “freedom,” occurs 17 times. In the new sixth grade book, the word, “freedom,” appears once.
“In the series of four books, grades III through VI being discarded: Freedom appears 31 times Liberty 15 times
In the new series pupils are now compelled to use…: Freedom appears 11 times
Liberty 7 times
“The grand old hymn, America (the song Pat Boone particularly singled out), for scores of years our national anthem, appears in the old textbooks for all four grades, but is omitted from the sixth and fourth-grade books in the new series. This hymn is the most useful song ever written to inspire love of freedom and the ideals of liberty in our youth.
“In the old series of music books for grades III through VI there were 45 separate patriotic hymns and songs. Some of these were repeated in different grades, for example, “America” and “the Star Spangles Banner.” In the new series same grades there are only 19 separate patriotic numbers. There are four songs repeated and eight that do not appear in the old series.
Among the many omitted songs was Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean, as well as the anthems of other countries, such as The Marsellaise, along with God Bless America, Hail, Columbia! and The Battle Cry of Freedom. Total Cost?
Just under $10 Million.
No comments:
Post a Comment