Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-03-07
PATRIOTISM IN THE SCHOOLS.

Patriotism should be taught in the schools
This statement, is often made. and never challenged
Its truth is SO obvious tia: no one thinks os dEspusins
it Patriotism, should be taught and the school is pre-
teaching should be done.
But the sta,emen. is often made in such a manner
as to convey the impression that the thing that is admit
ted to be necessary is no. being done. that. as a matter
of fact, the schools are not teaching patriotism. and that
for some mysterious reason. while our nation is in a great
war which makes the mos, powerful. appeal 20 the pa
triotism of the people. and while patriotism is being pro-
claimed from the pulpit, and Numbered from the plat
form, and talked on the streets. and inculcased in almost
every imaginable way Through almost every conceivable
agency, the schools which come into intimate con,ac;
with our citizenship in its very beginnings. go s;ol;d,y on
their way, deaf to appeals which are heard everywhere
else, and dead to those consid erations which are vital in
this time of great events.
Nothing of the sort is true Of the schools in general,
and most emphatical'y it is not true of the schools of
Grand Forks. Patriotism is taught in the schools Of this
city, and it is taught thoroughly and effectively. If ac-
count be taken Of the various topics which are either oe-
voted entirely to patriotism, or which have that as an
underlying motive, it is safe 20 say that more time and
labor and attention are devoted to the teaching of patri-
otism' on the part of both teachers and pupils, than are
devoted to any other study on the course This is true
today, and 1t has been true since the United States enter
ed into the war. 1t is true of every grade and every
building. The pupils are not only given instruction in the
formal facts relating to the war. but they are trained to
an understanding Of the spirit which lies at the founda-
ton of our government. They are taught that the ma tion
of which they are a part demands and is entitled to their
love and their allegiance, and that its flag, as the en-
blem of the spirit Of the nation itself, must be regarded
with veneration.
Greater emphasis is placed just now on the subject
Of patriotism than ever before. This is natural and
right in the schools as elsewhere. But if there exists
anywhere an impression that the schools of the city have
been Indifferent to the teaching of patriotism in the past,
in the years before the war, that impression is also n
mistaken one, and it cannot be entertained by any per-
son who is at all familiar with the work that has been
carried on in our schools. Through formal studies,
through special lessons, through the exercises attendant
on the observance of the red-letter days which mark the
great events of American history, there has been a con-
slant incubation of the spirit Of patriotism into the work
of the schools. What boy or girl has passed through the
schools Of Grand Forks without being made familiar,
year by year, from the lowest grade to the end 81 the
high school course. with the stories of Washington and
Lincoln. with their undying words and immortal deeds;
with the meaning Of the Declaration of Independence;
with the assertion OF the principles of unity and equal
rights in the Civil war; and with the duty that rests upon
every citizen to- keep unsulied the flag that has ever
foated in the cause Of human liberty?
1t is true that the schools have not produced in all
cases types Of flawless patriotism. Neither have they
made Of all pupils perfect mathematieians, or linlguists.
or granmarians. But they have performed a worthy
work in laying the foundationssof good citizenship. and
lin building into that foundation. as a means Of cement
ing its parts in indissoluble union, that love Of country
without which national foundation cannot be secure.