NYC principal bans God Bless America at graduation to avoid upsetting 'cultural sensitivities'

Daily Mail ^ | 6/10/2012 | Laura Cox

[Patriotic1]

A New York principle has sparked fury among parents, students and teachers after banning a patriotic song from being sung at graduation.

Kindergartners at PS 90, the Edna Cohen School in Coney Island will not be allowed to sing ‘God Bless the USA’ at their moving-up ceremony because principle Greta Hawkins has decided it is inappropriate.

The lyrics, she says could ‘offend other cultures’ and are ‘too grown-up’ for five-year-olds.

Controversially, Hawkins is allowing alternatives including ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber, with flirty lyrics such as: ‘Are we an item? Girl, quit playing.’

In past years the kids would sing the song with pride at the end of their June 20 commencement, waving tiny American flags, all dressed up for the occasion.

But Hawkins has pulled the plug on their patriotism, much to the annoyance of many parents. 'A lot of people fought to move to America to live freely, so that song should be sung with a whole lot of pride,' mom Luz Lozada told the New York Post. She recalled one of her children singing the song at last year’s celebration. 'Everybody applauded and whistled,' she said. 'They gave it a standing ovation.'

It is not the first time that Hawkins, a Jehovas Witness, has tried to stamp down on the school's patriotic rituals. A few years ago she tried to end the tradition of students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing ‘America the Beautiful’.

[Pollster1]

I'm okay with skipping "God Bless America" to avoid offending those who hate America (Obama voters and JWs). Let's sing Toby Keith instead:

Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue

American Girls and American Guys
We'll always stand up and salute
We'll always recognize
When we see Ole Glory Flying
There's a lot of men dead
So we can sleep in peace at night
When we lay down our head

My daddy served in the army
Where he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard
Till the day that he died
He wanted my mother, my brother, my sister and me
To grow up and live happy
In the land of the free.

Now this nation that I love
Has fallen under attack
A mighty sucker punch came flying in
From somewhere in the back
Soon as we could see clearly
Through our big black eye
Man, we lit up your world
Like the 4th of July

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly
And there's gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringing her bell
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Ahhh Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

Ohhh Justice will be served
And the battle will rage
This big dog will fight
When you rattle his cage
And you'll be sorry that you messed with
The U.S. of A.
'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass
It's the American way

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly
And there's gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom
Start ringing her bell
And it'll feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you
Brought to you Courtesy of the Red White and Blue

Uhhh Ohhh
Of the Red, White and Blue
Ohhh Ohh Oh
Of My Red, White and Blue

[GMA213]

Hey! Works for me!

[IronJack]

Kindergartners at PS 90, the Edna Cohen School in Coney Island will not be allowed to sing ‘God Bless the USA’ at their moving-up ceremony because principle Greta Hawkins has decided it is inappropriate.

Sing it anyway. What are they going to do, arrest you? On what charge? To hell with this PC nonsense!

[NativeTxn]

I taught school in the late 60’s in a small Texas town. It used to drive me nuts because I had 3 Jehovah witness students and they would not say the pledge or even stand up. They couldn't even celebrate any holiday or even their own birthday. Totally unAmerican!!

[NativeTxn]

I taught school in the late 60’s in a small Texas town. It used to drive me nuts because I had 3 Jehovah witness students and they would not say the pledge or even stand up. They couldn’t even celebrate any holiday or even their own birthday. Totally unAmerican!!

[Mygirlsmom]

I graduated from high school in 1979. At that time, we had TWO ceremonies, one of which was a "convocation" on the Sunday before graduation. It was a RELIGIOUS ceremony - each year a different pastor or priest was invited to speak to the graduates and to give thanks to God for blessings received.

Sad, how far we've fallen.

[Anima Mundi]

I know graduating from Kindergarten is cute and all, but I just think it is silly and inflates the concept of graduation, real accomplishment, working towards a longer term goal. It is akin to the participation trophy. Kids should not have so many celebrations of themselves that it becomes “old hat” by the time they are 16 years old. Mileposts in life are significant relative to the effort and length of time and rarity. If you graduate from Kindergarten and then from Middle School, your High School graduation is just a third in a series. I guess I am cynical.

[redpoll]

>>>Sing it anyway. What are they going to do, arrest you? On what charge? To hell with this PC nonsense!<<<

Absolutely correct. Hell, I’d even pass out flyers just before starting to sing it, assuming I could sneak them in. I’d even sing it with while displaying a middle-finger salute.

I often regret my rebellious and unfortunate past as an East Coast liberal, but it was how I was raised and I didn’t know better until I got out into the real world. (In fact, my mom was born about 80 years right near the school in the story.) However, this is one of the those moments where it is an advantage. I know exactly how the left would spin an incident like this that was to their disadvantage. Conservatives have been far, far too polite, and this is the repayment. You have to hit back fearlessly and without delay at injustice, and if this isn’t an example of injustice, nothing is.

I’d also be selling baseball caps with the words “American Pride” to be worn at the graduation. Hell, it’s New York. Should be easy enough to find someone to do that at a moment’s notice.

A nuisance complaint or lawsuit against this obviously racist principal also comes to mind.

I’m sick of the left trying to tell me what I can do and say. We’ve ceded too much ground on our liberty as it is. IMHO

[Clintonfatigued]

Here’s another one!

:::shakes head with exasperation:::

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[wintertime]

Well....That’s how I felt about my last graduation. I just had the school mail my certificate of graduation ( a doctorate) to my home.

[wintertime]

Why does she get to IMPOSE her RELGIONOUS beliefs on others?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hm?....Because it’s a government socialist-entitlement school.

Fundamentally, NO government school is religiously neutral because NO school of any kind can be. Religiously neutral is an impossible state of being in any sentient being!

Here’s a solution: Abolish all socialist-entitlement, godless, compulsory, and government owned and run schooling. Work toward complete separation of school and state.

[Patriotic1]

I graduated kindergarten in ‘72, and still have the ribbon! I have no idea if we sang or what happen, but there were some cute pix.

[Patriotic1]

But as another poster mentioned, they had a convocation for their HS graduation. So it is possible, but just not in this anti-religious/aggressively secularist environment!

[GOPJ]

The lyrics, she says could ‘offend other cultures’ ...

Guess it's more important to not offend some hut dwelling aborigine in Australia than the parents of the children attending that school. Here's my guess - she doesn't care about how the aborigines feel either - it's just an expression of her contempt for traditional Americans. And she wants someone to blame it on... the unknown 'other' who would be offended.

[wintertime]

But as another poster mentioned, they had a convocation for their HS graduation. So it is possible, but just not in this anti-religious/aggressively secularist environment!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This convocation was a bandaid on a mushy mess of godless gangrene, and a mere nod to God after 13 years of unrelenting godless indoctrination in the government establishment of the socialist-entitlement faith of atheistic secularism. Just to cooperate in the godless classroom the children must think and reason godlessly. How could it be otherwise?

1) It is impossible to have a religiously neutral education. Such a state of neutrality can not exist in the mind of a sentient being....therefore....government schools are not now, and never have been, religiously neutral.

2) Godless Secularism is not religiously neutral.

3) At the beginning of modern government schooling ( mid-1800s to early 1900s) government schooling offered up a lukewarm and generic Protestantism. It was sufficiently offensive that Catholics opened their own parochial schools and other denominations also had private schools for their children. ( What does Christ do with the lukewarm? He spits them out of His mouth.)

4) By my grandmother's day, government schooling was godlessly secular with an occasional nod to God. By the 1960’s it was utterly godless.

5) Government socialist-entitlement schooling has **always** been a First Amendment and freedom of conscience abomination.

6) Progressives pushed the idea of compulsory government schooling. Progressives have always controlled teacher training, certification, and curriculum development. The goal of progressives was **always** toward more and more godless secularism.

6) Finally, It is NOT possible to have a government socialist-entitlement school that does not trample the First Amendment Rights of its citizens ( children, parents, the taxpayers who are under police threat to fund this godless indoctrination) . This includes all of the rights outlined in the First Amendment: speech, press, assembly, free exercise of religion, and establishment of religion.

Solution: Begin the process of privatizing all K-12 education. What is needed is complete separation of **school** and state.

[RedMonqey]

Hm?....Because it’s a government socialist-entitlement school.

If not "de jure," it certainly is "de facto."

Another reason, among others for the voucher system.

It sure ain't your father's educational system anymore

[wintertime]

It sure ain't your father's educational system anymore
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

At first, Obamacare won't be that bad. The reason will be due to the values and ethics of those who were trained in the old system of private health care. It will take a generation or two for the full horror of socialist-entitlement and single payer health care to manifest itself.

Well...Modern Government compulsory education ( enacted into law in the mid1800s to early 1900s) has **always** been a socialist-entitlement and single payer system. It just didn't seem that bad due to the values of those running it. For example, my father ( born 1913) lived in the same household with his grandmother and grandfather who served in the Civil War. Even into the 1960s the teachers staffing the government socialist-entitlment schools carried with them the values and morals of the pioneers who tamed the land and immigrants who built this country.

My father retired from his job in 1978. It does seem that the moral and ethical environment within the government socialist-entitlement schools began to deteriorate when those of his generation began retiring in the 1960s and 70s.

By the way, my dad died when he was 96. He was 41% as old as our nation when he died. He lived almost half as long as our nation has been in existence.