1) This school stopped singing the anthem over a year ago and nobody noticed or cared.
2) Judging from some of the commenters here and elsewhere who are blathering about our glorious history and traditions, people are either very young or have incredibly short memories. 'O Canada' has been through a lot of changes over the years, and only became our official anthem in 1980. That's the same time the lyrics were changed to include the 'God keep our land' line.
3) This had me giggling:
A cursory survey of schools across the country shows that Belleisle is one of many where students don't sing the national anthem daily.
In British Columbia, morning renditions of O Canada are so uncommon that principals there can't fathom what the Belleisle hubbub is all about.
“I was surprised to hear that the daily singing was still going on,” said Brian Chappell, principal of Harwin Elementary School in Prince George. “We stopped doing it a long, long time ago. I think that's pretty standard throughout the district and the province.”
The reaction was similar in Alberta, where school officials said morning anthem policies vary from school to school. Terry Young, president of the Canadian Association of Principals, said singing of the morning anthem is so rare as to be “a non-issue.”
4) In amongst all the flag waving and rabid nationalism, a voice of sanity:
nicole lorusso from Canada writes: Singing O Canada does not make students more patriotic. I have taught at schools where the anthem has was sung daily and at others where it was only sung at sports events. Secondary students most often considered it a tedious task that was so overdone it completely lacked meaning or significance. I think the practice of singing it daily is done to pacify those at the school board offices rather than to inspire patriotism.
If you want students to care about their country and to value the privilege of being raised in such a phenomenal country, then have them discuss and analyze issues in the classroom. Students love to have the opportunity to voice their opinions and debate issues. It is amazing what they discover through those debates. The best lesson I had on the Canadian identity and patriotism came from a morning when I let my students vent their anger and frustration on being forced to sing the national anthem every morning. Their conclusion... that day's discussion was more inspiring to them and made them think more about what it meant to be Canadian than an entire year of singing the anthem.
And that's the last word.
