American Traditions In School

Peyton Parks

More stories from Peyton Parks

The Velo Farm
May 31, 2022

If we listen to the national anthem in the intermediate building every morning, why not listen to it at the high school? By putting the anthem to the side, I feel like we are forgetting about the men and women that fought for our freedoms. 

There is a project that started in 2005, called the “National anthem project”. This organization’s goal was to revive patriotism in the United States and have the national anthem played and sung more throughout the country.

Every morning we listen to and say the Pledge of Allegiance, so when we do that I think we should be listening to the national anthem as well. 

If someone were to ask me why I believe some old song is so important, I would tell them that the national anthem is a piece that shows our past and our future. We’ve used this anthem through it all, from our Independence Day Celebrations to our war cries. 

The national anthem is an American staple and is heard across the nation every day. We hear this anthem before our local sporting events and even before national TV games. Why leave the patriotism to sports events? I think the schools from K-12 should playing The Star Spangled Banner daily.  

Junior Edwin Himmel-Maines said, “100% the anthem should be played, it shows how great the United States is and our unity as a nation.”

As we get older we begin to get our own opinions on politics and how the government and world works. Some kids may think the national anthem is a waste of time and how it is just a song, but I feel as if the national anthem played in the morning is a proud tradition America has, and we should keep it going. 

On the other side of things, some people believe that we shouldn’t play the anthem daily. People believe that after hearing it so much that the anthem would lose meaning to Americans and then just turn into a song.

French teacher Shayne Joyce said, “I think it’s a bad idea to play the anthem daily, students will eventually see the anthem lose meaning from the repetition.”

I think his statement makes a good point, but I think the anthem wouldn’t lose its meaning as he is saying. We’ve heard the anthem since we were born, and I still feel inspired each time I hear it. 

My main goal of this piece is to see a light shined onto the national anthem and to get this American anthem back playing within the school. In order to keep the repetitiveness of the anthem down the office could only play it on Fridays, so it is not played every single day.