When I was in grade school a hundred years ago, our teachers and principals taught more than reading, writing and arithmetic. We received a citizenship grade and that was given for how well you conducted yourself at school.
There was a great deal to citizenship, when I consider it. Each morning the class began with The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. At each school assembly, we began the assembly with the National Anthem and The Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Because the county didn't have enough funds for years to hire individual music teachers, we were taught songs by our elementary teachers; songs that meant something to the culture in which we lived and our national culture, including the patriotic songs "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," "God Bless America" and "You're a Grand Old Flag."
As part of physical education, we were taught folk dancing and we were taught games that involved cooperation and organization, "Red Rover, Red Rover," "Mother May I," jump rope games with rhymes: "Cinderella dressed in yellow, went upstairs to kiss her fellow. Made a mistake and kissed a snake. How many doctors did it take?" One, two, three and so on. Freeze tag was a big game, as well as hide-and-go-seek. Games and rhymes that made us aware we had to depend on each other and we had to cooperate as a group.
In thinking of these games, I think about how much a part of American life they were when I was growing up; they were pure American. Today, you rarely hear of them, nor do you see many children playing them. So much of what was creative, required memory and the acuity of recall, sadly, is gone.
I remember reciting the "Gettysburg Address" in sixth grade. I remember reciting Mark Antony's funeral oration for Julius Caesar from Shakespeare's play:
"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ear;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones."
Now that I am older I can see that, in singing those songs, reciting the poems and taking civics, as well as a course in high school entitled "Americanism versus Communism," we, as American students, were taught about the fabric that made our nation strong through song, verse and in writing. We were taught how to think as Americans, what united us and what would keep us united.
We built model log cabins to celebrate the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln, the great Emancipator. We colored pictures of a young President George Washington chopping down a cherry tree and talked about the story, truth or legend, where he supposedly stated to his father, "I cannot tell a lie," about chopping down the cherry tree.
We learned about Betsy Ross making the first American flag for our nation and we even learned a song about it under the tutelage of my second grade teacher, the late Mrs. Virginia J. Daniel. Here are part of the lyrics:
"So she took some red for the blood they shed,
Some white for purity,
She took the stars from the sky overhead,
Some blue for loyalty,
And sewed them all together,
For faithful hearts and true,
And hand and hand as 'One' we stand for the Red, White and Blue."
We sang those songs with gusto, knowing that as Americans we had songs, poems and holidays that united us. During the month of February and each month, I hope we reflect on the beauty of the unity that makes up the United States of America. I can say, without reservation, I am proud to be an American and I hope and pray that it is always true that, "What's right about America is the freedom to express what's wrong about America."
While computers and technology are important, can they really take the place of the lessons we learned so well expressed in the lyrics of Woody Guthrie, a great American singer and songwriter?
"This land is your and this land is my land,
From California to the New York Island,
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters,
This land was made for you and me."
The thrills one would often feel singing our National Anthem at school and sporting events; the pride one felt when we could recite the preamble to the Constitution of the United States or the "Gettysburg Address" and the lessons we learned about what united us and what divided us as a nation. We learned that Russia, China and Cuba were not our friends nor our allies and that their system of government meant the surrender of personal freedoms and national freedoms.
We learned so many lessons at the "old school" and I have decided, readers, that the "old school" was not necessarily a bad school. We may need a refresher course of some of the "old school" doctrines again.
"One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all."
I am thankful our Riverbend News publisher, Emerald Greene, is unashamedly a proud American who publishes her beliefs about the greatness of our nation. Not every reader may agree with these beliefs, but we have the right to read them and to make up our minds about what we believe, rather than being TOLD and dictated what we MUST believe.
All freedoms we enjoy as Americans, including "freedom of the press and expression" are very dear and were paid for by the lives of countless thousands of brave Americans. Let's remember them today and each day and let's pause and take some time to thank God for the lessons of great Americans who taught us a great deal about who we are as Americans at the "old school"; the "old school" that didn't have cell phones, nor computers, nor the internet, but taught us that America was a great place to live and that being an American was something in which we could take pride. I miss so much of the "old school."
From the Eight Mile Still on the Woodpecker Route north of White Springs, wishing you a day filled with joy, peace and, above all, lots of love and laughter. God Bless you all. Stay safe and, "God bless America."