Iowa lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday that would require public school students to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" each day and require instruction on the words, meaning and history of the national anthem, including how to “love, honor and respect” the song.
The bill, House Study Bill 587, was advanced out of a subcommittee by Republican Reps. Henry Stone of Forest City and Phil Thompson of Boone. Democratic Rep. Sue Cahill of Marshalltown voted against the bill, saying it is unnecessary and a waste of classroom time.
The bill, which said it won’t apply in private schools, would require students and teachers to sing “at least one verse” of the anthem each day. Students and teachers would be allowed to opt out of singing the anthem, but they would be required to stand if able and remain silent while the anthem is sung.
ADVERTISING
Schools would also have to direct students and teachers to sing all four verses of the anthem on “patriotic occasions,” as determined by the local school board.
Multiple speakers at the subcommittee meeting Wednesday said the bill placed onerous requirements on schools and potentially violated the First Amendment by requiring students and teachers to stand during the anthem.
Connie Ryan, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, said she was opposed to the bill “legislating patriotism” and requiring a certain kind of speech at schools.
“It explicitly talks about teaching how to love, honor and respect the national anthem,” she said. “And putting those kind of values on a symbol is simply wrong.”
Dave Daughton, a lobbyist for the School Administrators of Iowa and the Rural School Advocates of Iowa, said much of what is in the bill already is taught in classrooms, but the groups did not support implementing the mandates on schools.
“We promote patriotism as much as possible, we just don’t want to be mandated that all districts have to do it, and have to do it the same way,” he said.
Sign up for On Iowa Politics
Beyond the anthem, the bill would also require social studies instruction in grades 1-12 to include instruction on the “object and principles of the government of the United States, the sacrifices made by the founders of the United States” and “the important contributions made by all who have served in the armed forces since the founding of the United States.”
During the meeting, Cahill led the group of three lawmakers in singing the national anthem before outlining her opposition to the bill. She said she wanted to illustrate “that our Capitol is the perfect place to show patriotism,” but schools should not be mandating displays of patriotism.
She said she was concerned that the bill would mandate speech and asked whether students would be punished if they kneel during the anthem. She also said singing the song every day and teaching its concepts would shorten the time available to teach other topics.
Rep. Henry Stone of Forest City (left), Rep. Phil Thompson of Boone (middle) and Rep. Sue Cahill of Marshalltown (right), sing the national anthem Wednesday during a subcommittee meeting at the Iowa Capitol in Des Moines. (Caleb McCullough, Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau)
“The school classroom is not the place for mandating the singing of the national anthem, thus mandating patriotism for students,” she said. “I think that’s something students choose, and it’s something that they learn.”
Stone, the subcommittee chair, said he was supportive of the bill. He noted there could be changes to it as it moves through the lawmaking process.
“I grew up in a household that valued patriotism, that promoted patriotism,” he said. “That’s why I joined as a third-generation military man. … I believe in this bill, I believe that it's something that we can put back into our schools that has added value.”
After passing the subcommittee on Wednesday, the bill, which was proposed by House Education Committee Chair Skyler Wheeler, is eligible for a vote in the full committee.
According to the National Museum of American History in Washington, the four versus of the national anthem are:
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner — O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto — “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
www.thegazette.com
The bill, House Study Bill 587, was advanced out of a subcommittee by Republican Reps. Henry Stone of Forest City and Phil Thompson of Boone. Democratic Rep. Sue Cahill of Marshalltown voted against the bill, saying it is unnecessary and a waste of classroom time.
The bill, which said it won’t apply in private schools, would require students and teachers to sing “at least one verse” of the anthem each day. Students and teachers would be allowed to opt out of singing the anthem, but they would be required to stand if able and remain silent while the anthem is sung.
ADVERTISING
Schools would also have to direct students and teachers to sing all four verses of the anthem on “patriotic occasions,” as determined by the local school board.
Multiple speakers at the subcommittee meeting Wednesday said the bill placed onerous requirements on schools and potentially violated the First Amendment by requiring students and teachers to stand during the anthem.
Connie Ryan, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, said she was opposed to the bill “legislating patriotism” and requiring a certain kind of speech at schools.
“It explicitly talks about teaching how to love, honor and respect the national anthem,” she said. “And putting those kind of values on a symbol is simply wrong.”
Dave Daughton, a lobbyist for the School Administrators of Iowa and the Rural School Advocates of Iowa, said much of what is in the bill already is taught in classrooms, but the groups did not support implementing the mandates on schools.
“We promote patriotism as much as possible, we just don’t want to be mandated that all districts have to do it, and have to do it the same way,” he said.
Sign up for On Iowa Politics
Subscribe now and receive a roundup of Iowa politics news sent directly to your inbox.
Beyond the anthem, the bill would also require social studies instruction in grades 1-12 to include instruction on the “object and principles of the government of the United States, the sacrifices made by the founders of the United States” and “the important contributions made by all who have served in the armed forces since the founding of the United States.”
During the meeting, Cahill led the group of three lawmakers in singing the national anthem before outlining her opposition to the bill. She said she wanted to illustrate “that our Capitol is the perfect place to show patriotism,” but schools should not be mandating displays of patriotism.
She said she was concerned that the bill would mandate speech and asked whether students would be punished if they kneel during the anthem. She also said singing the song every day and teaching its concepts would shorten the time available to teach other topics.
“The school classroom is not the place for mandating the singing of the national anthem, thus mandating patriotism for students,” she said. “I think that’s something students choose, and it’s something that they learn.”
Stone, the subcommittee chair, said he was supportive of the bill. He noted there could be changes to it as it moves through the lawmaking process.
“I grew up in a household that valued patriotism, that promoted patriotism,” he said. “That’s why I joined as a third-generation military man. … I believe in this bill, I believe that it's something that we can put back into our schools that has added value.”
After passing the subcommittee on Wednesday, the bill, which was proposed by House Education Committee Chair Skyler Wheeler, is eligible for a vote in the full committee.
The Star-Spangled Banner
According to the National Museum of American History in Washington, the four versus of the national anthem are:
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner — O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
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,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto — “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
GOP lawmakers want Iowa students to sing national anthem daily
The bill, which said it won’t apply in private schools, would require students and teachers to sing “at least one verse” of the anthem each day. Students and teachers would be allowed to opt out of singing the anthem, but they would be required to stand if able and remain silent while the anthem...
www.thegazette.com
