UK schools urged to fly the Union Flag and sing the national anthem in every assembly
116 replies, posted
Schools are being urged to fly the Union Jack and sing the national anthem at every assembly as part of a campaign to foster patriotism among the young.
It was approved this week despite a Labour councillor questioning whether schools with tight budgets could afford flags and poles.
[url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2607477/Towns-schools-urged-fly-Union-Jack-boost-patriotism-pupils-campaign-launched-grandson-Boltons-Indian-immigrant.html[/url]
In the US this is pretty much routine in elementary schools. We always did the pledge of allegiance before class starts.
I don't understand why schools and places like to force the anthem at you to be "patriotic"
I mean I fucking love my country, but I still don't know or care about the anthem (Plus it's a pretty shit song)
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;44577400]In the US this is pretty much routine in elementary schools. We always did the pledge of allegiance before class starts.[/QUOTE]
Been doing it since the 30s
Would be hard pressed to find a single flag within a square kilometre of my previous school. :v:
[QUOTE=kaze4159;44577403]I don't understand why schools and places like to force the anthem at you to be "patriotic"
I mean I fucking love my country, but I still don't know or care about the anthem (Plus it's a pretty shit song)[/QUOTE]
Fostering a love of country at younger ages tends to make citizens that like their country more and stay and work in it to make it better.
Yes, nationalism has only led to good things in the past. Absolutely.
I like how he wants to take the flag "back" from the far right, but is a tory mp.
This is pretty normal in Australian schools
Not the Union Jack and the Royal Anthem, my primary and high school fly the flag along with singing the national anthem at the start of every Assembly
[QUOTE=deltasquid;44577422]Yes, nationalism has only led to good things in the past. Absolutely.[/QUOTE]
There's a fine difference in being proud of the nation you live in and being blindly proud of your nation by throwing others under the bus
[QUOTE=kaze4159;44577403]I don't understand why schools and places like to force the anthem at you to be "patriotic"
I mean I fucking love my country, but I still don't know or care about the anthem (Plus it's a pretty shit song)[/QUOTE]
What's wrong with Advance Australia Fair?
this is ridiculous, nationalism needs to be stamped out not encouraged in young people.
[QUOTE=deltasquid;44577422]Yes, nationalism has only led to good things in the past. Absolutely.[/QUOTE]
In my opinion saying the pledge of allegiance to a country's anthem is harmless. And I'm for it.
This has nothing to do with radical nationalists, because I'm not for those.
Or we could not waste peoples time doing something that no one cares about.
Maybe we could use our schools to actually fucking teach people instead of making them honour the union jack and do a god damned anthem.
This is the perfect Daily Mail headline. This is almost certainly false.
What is this? America? Fuck off buster.
Nothing wrong with showing some respect for your country and what it stands for. I always wished my schools had done the Pledge of Allegiance every day, or ever. Though it always made my blood boil when people would fuck up the lyrics on purpose, like "I pledge allegiance to the fag," etc. If you don't believe in it then don't fucking say the Pledge. Don't intentionally disrespect it.
[QUOTE=bravehat;44577455]Or we could not waste peoples time doing something that no one cares about.
Maybe we could use our schools to actually fucking teach people instead of making them honour the union jack and do a god damned anthem.[/QUOTE]
Schools are already wasting a truckload of time with mandatory assemblies, which they are legally forced to have by the School Standards and Framework Act 1996 (section 70) states "each pupil in attendance at a community, foundation or voluntary school shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship", which an assembly counts as. If I had my way, that bit would be removed immediately. Schools are places of learning, and collective worship is what you do in your local church/mosque/otherreligiousbuilding.
Maybe they want us to collectively worship the flag. :v:
What's with this hate on nationalism? Nationalism is good. Loving your country and your fellow countrymen is good. Just because you love your country doesn't automatically mean you hate your neighbours. Nonetheless, Goethe said a while ago that you cannot fully appreciate other countries if you do not fully appreciate yours first.
What if some children refused to sing the national anthem? If you were to punish them it wouldn't exactly build up a good image of the country for them.
[QUOTE=fruxodaily;44577430]This is pretty normal in Australian schools
Not the Union Jack and the Royal Anthem, my primary and high school fly the flag along with singing the national anthem at the start of every Assembly[/QUOTE]
Not at mine, we just fly the flag. I've never sang the anthem since the end of primary school
Most people I know don't have any problem with the Union Flag. We like it, it's a nice flag; it's not like we revere it, but I don't think many people would be that confused by somebody flying the UK's flag outside their home.
Same thing with the national anthem. I actually really like God Save the Queen, but mainly just as a song and showing a bit of respect to the royalty (even if the later verses take it a bit far). I'm still glad we only sing it on special occasions, though. Overhearing it would end up turning it into a dirge.
The English flag is a different story, though. If you fly one outside your home, it just makes you look like you're part of the EDL or the National Front or something. That's just the connotations it has.
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;44577400]In the US this is pretty much routine in elementary schools. We always did the pledge of allegiance before class starts.[/QUOTE]
It's not a popular concept in Europe because of Nazism and in Eastern/Central Europe, Socialism. My great-aunt had to pledge allegiance to the USSR every morning when she was at school in 1950's/60's Poland.
Personally I don't like it either, it feels off probably for the same reasons. Besides I don't think the British have ever been so brash about their patriotism.
Sounds creepy from a German perspective.
[QUOTE=Terminutter;44577481]Schools are already wasting a truckload of time with mandatory assemblies, which they are legally forced to have by the School Standards and Framework Act 1996 (section 70) states "each pupil in attendance at a community, foundation or voluntary school shall on each school day take part in an act of collective worship", which an assembly counts as. If I had my way, that bit would be removed immediately. Schools are places of learning, and collective worship is what you do in your local church/mosque/otherreligiousbuilding.
Maybe they want us to collectively worship the flag. :v:[/QUOTE]
Patriotism in the UK is a celebration of diversity if anything. There's no such thing as a 'pure breed' British person, and I think that with the recent news of fundamentalist takeovers of some schools there is a decent number who would have wanted this sooner.
Personally I just find that people in the country are less respectful towards each other in general, but I don't know if this will help. It's not a lot to ask for though.
[QUOTE=Savant231A;44577485]What's with this hate on nationalism? Nationalism is good. Loving your country and your fellow countrymen is good. Just because you love your country doesn't automatically mean you hate your neighbours. Nonetheless, Goethe said a while ago that you cannot fully appreciate other countries if you do not fully appreciate yours first.[/QUOTE]
It's not really a British thing to do, you see. We're the kind of people who express our love of our country through vitriol and complaining, but as soon as someone from another country starts criticising the UK, we'll all gang up and attempt to lay on the smackdown. Such an event even happens from region to region here, as someone in Kent I am granted the privileged to insult Dover or Chatham (shitholes) but if anyone not from Kent was to criticise them, I would start defending them tooth or nail, along with others. We're all happy with the country, at least to a degree, we just choose to complain about it in public instead.
We have a rather large problem with the main nationalists here being "Ing-urh-luhnd" worshiping EDL and BNP members, who don't know their arse from their elbow, but we all choose to ignore them, and we're perfectly happy as is to be honest.
Who even knows all of the lyrics to our national anthem?
[QUOTE=Savant231A;44577485]What's with this hate on nationalism? Nationalism is good. Loving your country and your fellow countrymen is good. Just because you love your country doesn't automatically mean you hate your neighbours. Nonetheless, Goethe said a while ago that you cannot fully appreciate other countries if you do not fully appreciate yours first.[/QUOTE]
you can love your countrymen without loving lines on a map that are characterized by centuries of bloodshed
The anti-nationalists in my country are Islamists and Kurds.
Northern Ireland has enough trouble with flags and national identity as it is, stuff like this would only drive Willie Frazer and them other nutters into overdrive with their mutant concept of Britishness.
Nationalism is all well and good, but when pride in you country is literally the only thing you have going for yourselves as citizens of said country and indeed, you feel superior to that of others it takes on another role altogether, exceptionalism.
Nationalism is a way of celebrating a countries culture, achievements, people and beauty not to mention history. It is not intended to be used as a club to batter others or as a cover for bad behavior.
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