Look at what my son brought home from 2nd grade.

[gmaki]

Now that the school year is over he brought home all his paperwork. Included in the all the papers were two songs, which apparently they had been made to sing during the year

the songs are:

"God Must Have Blessed America"
lyrics - Allen Toussant
Recorded by "Glen Campbell"

Here is the first stanza

"God must have blessed America
For us to have so many many things
We've got each and ev'ry kind
All gathered at one time
Say God must have blessed us all"

Also..

"The Great Defenders"
lyrics Dan Bradley
recorded by Lee Greenwood

Here's a sample of this one..

"(Go) Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines (Hooah!)
You're the greatest show of strength
This world has ever seen,
Coast Guard, National Guard,
Along with the Reserves,
We salute our Nations best
Standing ready Proud to Serve"

Man this stuff pisses me off. And it isn't the content that pisses me off, it is because I have decided not to expose him any of these issues yet. I feel in the 2nd grade he is too young to contend with issues such as "Is there a God?" I realize that if I were to discuss these things with him I would be unfairly influencing him with my opinion so I have chosen to wait until he is older.

However now it seems his school has made this decision for me. Now I feel I have to at least make him aware that there are two sides to these issues. I thought it was pretty clear that "God" was off limits in the classroom. I guess I was wrong.

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. Sounds like you need to be more involved in your child's life

If you want to make choices for him you have to be there to make them. Apparently, since you're just discovering this after a whole year, you haven't been taking notice of his activities enough to assuage your concerns about the content of his tuition.

ANYBODY BUT BUSH

Click here for "ANYBODY BUT BUSH", and other fair and balanced yet stunning buttons, magnets and stickers

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Jesus, that's an awfully

Judgemental sounding response, based on the very limited information in the original post.

[gmaki]

9. Thanks, I was about to defend myself

after seeing that post, then I realized I hadn't said anything that needed defending.

[Cronus Protagonist]

11. And I didn't say anything that required your defending either

Some people just have to infer malice where there is none. I did miss out the word "school" - I meant "school life", obviously, since that was the topic, but perhaps that wasn't clear. My bad.

ANYBODY BUT BUSH

Click here for "ANYBODY BUT BUSH", and other fair and balanced yet stunning buttons, magnets and stickers

[bleedingheart]

19. You don't need to defend yourself

I am a parent of a second grader and a poetry folder came home at the end of the year. No mention of it ever from my son...but it was a nice suprise....and I have had countless conferences with the teacher because my son has Aspergers...so there are some things that just escape us as parents...

By the way my son learned that song..."I'm proud to be an American"...in Kindergarten and I knew that only because he came home singing it all the time. They were learning it for a school assembly. When we went down to the beach (NC) for vacation my son started singing it in a pizza place and these older folks gave him a dollar...

[JohnOneillsMemory]

3. Indoctrination begins at birth. School and TV are your enemies.

Young American Taliban Jihadists ready to bomb brown people when they get to age 18 are trained as soon as possible to think of killing for the master race and Fuhrerland.

You can't wait to innoculate them against theonationalist fascism.
Start them smoking pot as soon as possible. (small joke)

[ikojo]

4. Of course these things are going on in

elementary schools! Why do you think Hitler started the Hitler youth? Because if you get them and train them while they are young, as it says (I think it's in Proverbs)..train a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it.

Second graders are still at an age where they long to please authority figures.

[seabeyond]

5. gmaki, respectfully your choices with your child

a big thumbs up. i have one boy 6 and one 9. i would be more concerned that they are have them singing those cuase of the words and not being aware, i think they are awful wording. as far as child learning politics and god. we talk it all the time and have been since i dont know when. on god we talk all sides. kids go to a fundie school so absolutely hear god, a lot, what i have taught them is to listen to heart, that they will hear truth and much easier than adult cause they are not so conditioned. it has been wonderful insite for them, and it gives them the confidence that they have the ability to hear truth that it is within themselves, they are not dependent on others to condition them what to think and feel

one of the things i stress with boys, regardless of what i, their father, a teacher or the president says, it is theirs to get the information and figure it for themselves

from the youngest we have learned from commercials how they condition and lie to get us to spend money on their product

these are great tools for children for the rest of their lives. goes beyond the superficial stuff in life, this is a foundation, tool that will provide for them in wisdom thru out life. it also opens them up to seeing their role and responsibility at such a young age to be informed and aware of what is going on in their world. it is theirs to create

[Meldread]

6. After you speak with your child...

You need to make your concerns known to the School. Tell them what you've just said here and see what they say. Stand in their way and don't let them force this type of crap down your kid's throat.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. When I was in the 2nd grade

...During the cold war, my second grade teacher taught us that "God hates the Russians" By the time I was in the sixth grade, I realized I was smarter than my second grade teacher. (lol)
We have to have confidence that our kids will see through attempts to influence them.
Everyone here seems to have gotten through it OK.
Don't worry about it...you have more impact on your son than they do.

[gmaki]

8. Yeah I know I have more influence

And I know that I can use that to easily overcome whatever his school is feeding him. However, I suppose I naively hoped it would not come to that. I always viewed that I would be exposing him to all sides equally, allowing him to make an informed choice of his own. I had hoped that he would not see me as just another person who tried to influence him one way or another. In the long run I think that will hurt my credibility with him.

While I still intend to give him all sides, it seems I also have to take on the role of "deprogrammer" as well, which forces me to one side somewhat.

[Pachamama]

10. Yikes! They are trying to indoctrinate them young....definitely complain.

You might have done it already (even though the school year is over) but I would definitely say something and I'd take it a step further and complain to the Superintendent of Schools here in CA and write to the Newspapers....

My kids are young, so they aren't in the public school system yet, but given how things are going in this country, I'm seriously considering either home schooling or having them schooled outside of the US.

Scary times....

On the second "song"....what are they doing? Trying to sign up "recruits" before they are 18 to join the military?

:grr:

[lazarus]

12. I've gotten lucky

My 12 year old just announced that she's a skeptic and atheist. And this after spending most of her life in southern Alabama, surrounded by churchgoers, etc.

I didn't even indoctrinate her. Just answered questions, and asked them, and let her come to her own decision. We've even offered to take her to a church, or let her go to church with a friend if she wants.

She has no interest.

I'm so proud.

She's also a good liberal, and is constantly asking me for talking points to use in school.

[LittleApple81]

13. My daughter (when 5 years-old) told her Grandma: "I don't discuss religion

with my parents. They give me too many answers!" My daughter wanted to go to Sunday school with her during our visit to their house and she wanted to make sure that my husband would approve. After two Sundays, she said: "the kids are fun, but the stories are boring."

My mother-in-law was religious (not fundamentalist, just believed profoundly), my husband is an atheist, I have my own version of God (non-organized church, just my own--and I don't proselitize). Every question she asked we answered (i.e., "why is Jesus Christ so popular in Mexico?" she asked when we were there on vacation. My answer: because the Spanish were the conquerors. Had it been the Muslims, it would be Allah).

[Bridget Burke]

15. Jesus Christ is popular in Mexico because he was a sacrifice,

Executed by an occupying army. The "villains" in the local pageants wear Roman costume. The Mexican government since the 1910 revolution has been quite anti-clerical & Catholicism survived because the people wanted it. Ever hear of the Cristero rebellion?

Of course, Jesus is less popular in Mexico than his Mom. She adapted characteristics of Aztec & pre-Aztec goddesses just as she donned the robes of Pagan goddesses in the Old World--going back to Isis.

My personal religious beliefs lie in the Agnostic/Atheistic continuum. However, purposeful ignorance of the spiritual aspect of human experience leaves one at a disadvantage when considering most history, art & psychology. Silly, simplistic statements to one's child could lead to her thinking you silly. Of course, she will anyway, for a while.

[LittleApple81]

16. What I was emphasizing to a 4-year-old is that religion is not based

on UNIVERSAL truths but what is taught/forced on people at a given time. I don't think that a 4-year old would understand your arguments, would you? Now my daughter is 22, she has travelled all over the world, has friends in all religious camps, and understands the kind of argument you cite, which she has discussed not only with us but with other people.

[Blue Gardener]

14. Contact the School Board

Tell them you're going to contact the ACLU if you hear about any more of this kind of crap going on. They won't want to get sued.

[doni_georgia]

17. I would talk to the principal

Chances are he/she has no idea what the music teacher has been teaching the kids (or classroom teacher if it was done in the classroom). Some teachers have an agenda and they see no problem with foisting it on the kids. Usually in these cases the principals know nothing about it until a parent complains. Our fifth graders did a patrtiotic programs including songs from the branches of the military this year. I complained - but no parents did (and they had to have a permission slip signed saying they could participate). However, there were no songs with religious lyrics except "America the Beautiful." Out of 110 5th graders, only 3 did not participate in the program (all three were Jehovah's Witnesses) and their parents did not complain, simply signed the slip saying "My child does not have my permission to participate." I hate these types of programs! But patriotism is part of the curriculum, so these types of things always get worked in to the school year.

[Deja Q]

18. The Christian whackos have no case. It's clear public schools are not

devoid of their relgiino and are not, in the slightest, the tools of Satan. :eyes:

This is pure indoctrination.