Your response was extremely helpful. I am not knowledgeable about brainwashing or thought reform techniques, but I suspected that this is what was happening in the assembly. I now have some information I can show the other parents to help them understand that schools are fast becoming "re-education camps". This is really really scary.
BUMP.
Here's some rather technical reading that touches on the psychological mechanics of what we call "brainwashing:"
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, Chapter 22 It's something I see frequently these days. All too many personal and organizational encounters are something out of a very bad psychotherapy session. I am convinced that the ultimate purpose is to destroy a person's capacity for self assertion, self esteem, and self respect, leaving the individual highly susceptible to psychological manipulation.
When practiced by the state sponsored school there is a very good reason indeed to be extremely apprehensive.