A bill modifying the social studies curriculum provided to Iowa public school students by requiring teachers and students to sing the national anthem moved through subcommittee on Jan. 24, but not without lobbyists and Democrats voicing strong opposition.
House Stubdy Bill 587 requires instruction related to the words and music of the national anthem, the meaning and history of the national anthem, the object and principles of the government of the United States, the sacrifices made by the founders of the United States, the important contributions made by all who have served in the armed forces since America’s founding and how to love, honor and respect the national anthem.
One of the lobbyists, Connie Ryan with the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund, took the opportunity to compare the bill to Adolph Hitler’s rise in Germany.
“(Hitler) made a national anthem, required it for all the students, all the people to be able to know it, to be able to sing it, to sing it at the same tempo,” she said. “There were lots of different requirements that Adolph Hitler and the Nazis put on that. That is not my idea of a free democracy and I would urge us to oppose this legislation just simply on those grounds.”
Ryan also said it is “fascinating” that in a country that values freedom, we would be “legislating patriotism.”
“That’s what this bill is all about, right,” she said. “This idea that everybody should be patriotic and should do it in the same way. I think that’s wrong.”
Ryan added that to teach “how to love, honor and respect” the national anthem because putting those values on a symbol is “simply wrong.”
Damian Thompson of Iowa Safe Schools said the curriculum is best developed by those who teach in the classroom. He added students and teachers maintain their First Amendment rights in school and the requirement to stand during the anthem violates those freedoms. People should have the right to kneel or sit during the anthem, he added.
Democrat State Rep. Sue Cahill put out a small American Flag on the table and asked those in the meeting to rise and sing the anthem. When they finished, Cahill added her criticism of the bill.
“I did it to illustrate our Capitol is the perfect place to show patriotism and to put forth how we feel about this country,” she said.
The bill requires certain verses of the anthem to be sung on certain days, Cahill said. And on some days all four verses would have to be sung.
“I had to look at these,” she said. “I could go into verse two, but I’d have to read it off a paper. I have no knowledge or deep understanding of the rest of the verses.”
Cahill added patriotism is something that “can’t be forced.”
She wondered if a teacher who instructs six classes of American History would have to sing the anthem six times a day. She wondered if there would be consequences for students who choose not to sing the anthem.
Ultimately, Cahill said singing the anthem each day would take five minutes away from other valuable classroom instruction.
“The school classroom is not the place for mandating the singing of the national anthem,” said Cahill, a former Iowa teacher. “Thus mandating patriotism for students. I think that’s something students choose and it’s something that they learn and they’ll learn it in other ways.”
Republican State Rep. Phil Thompson said he loves civics and believes there needs to be more of it in the classroom. He said he is happy to move the bill forward.
Republican State Rep. Henry Stone, who managed the bill, said he supports patriotism as a retired military member and noted anything that can be done to advance it he would support.
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