On national anthem bill, hard to choose between laughter and disgust
Picture this scenario: Middle school students stand at attention and either sing or maintain a “respectful silence” during these words of the national anthem:
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave…
House Study Bill 587 would require all public school students to sing the entire national anthem on “patriotic occasions” and perhaps before all school-sponsored events. I vacillate between doubling over with laughter and recoiling with disgust as I imagine the consequences of this bill passing.
Thankfully, our public school teachers are far more competent teaching history and “patriotism” than are the legislators at our State Capitol. Legislators should stay in their lane.
Asta Twedt, Ankeny