Philip weekly review and Bad River news. [volume] (Philip, Stanley County, S.D.) 1912-1918, 1917-11-29
PATRIOTISM IN
OUR SCHOOLS

/
The best way l know of to
teach patriotism is to be thoro-
ughly wide awake patriot. 1t is
never hard to find ways and
means of teaching any subject in
which we have specialized, one
that we like so well that it Is
great pleasure to teach it.
Webster tells us that patriotism
is "Love of Country; devotion to
4he welfare of ones Country, the
virtues and actions of patriot =;
the passion which inspires one
to serve ones country Surely we
do not need any special pre-
paration to teach these things
for the love of country should be
as much part Of our nature as
parental love, the instinct for
home life and so on.
This would be true, no doubt
it all, or even the majority, Of
our ancestors for generations
back had been Americans. There
is not much question about the
patriotism of a person whose
great grandfather fought in the
Revolutionary War, and whose
father fought in the Civil War.
But because our forbears who
fought in these wars so thoro-
ugblv appreciated the blessings
of liberty that had been so dear
ly bought, they did not wish to
deny anyone who cared to come
to our shores and enjoy them
with us. AS a consequence our
country has been the refuge
Of all classes and conditions of
men From the high political
outcast to the poor peasant who
had saved just enough to en-
able him to escape the pauper
class, millions of these aliens
availed themselves Of our ma
turalization laws and became
citizens and today we number a.
mong our best citizens, men
from practically all nationalities.
If patriotism is instructive and
comes ahead of all other emo
tions, then how could these peo-
pie leave their native lands and
come here to make their homes
in a foreign land. We all know
they came on account Of unpleas-
ant conditions in the Old Coun-
try. Either political or religi
GUS differences, compulsory mill
tary service, crowded condi-
tions and lack of opportunity for
advancement. Here they found
every opportunity for advance
ment. And until the present
struggle we have never ques-
toned their loyalty. We even al
lowed the parochial schools and
excused children from regular
public school to attend these.
Did they follow our prescribed
course Of study, teach Ameri-
canism and the grand principles
for which it stands? Oh no, their
prime object was to teach a for
eign language and secondary OBJ
ject to 4 teach the cate
chism Of the particular church
of that community. In many o
these homes, so represented, the
English language was never
spoken, and these people did
not try in anyway to conform 70
our manners and customs, but
seemed to take pride in the fact
that they did not and would not
adopt our customs. Oh America,
have yon been too lenient with
the stranger within your gat-
es.' Little did you expect them
to sting the hand that fed them.
Should we permit these paro-
chial schools to continue? No, /
say thousand times no. Every
school child in America should
be taught to say with pride
eve pledge our heads and our
hearts to God and our Country,
one Nation, one Language, one
Flag AT last we have awak-
ened to the realization Of the
fact that we as American teach
ers, have assisted in carrying on
one of the most infamous Of
propagandas. We have allowed
German to be introduced into
our schools and taught even so
low as in the fifth grade. Some
of these cunningly devised texts
not only exaulted Germany
but dwelt upon the virtues of
the most evil minded monarch
einca fhc fima nf Marc Ap0usa