Iowa educators are not ‘the enemy’

House Study Bill 587 includes requiring the daily singing of the "Star Spangled Banner," and teaching about it along with other patriotic concepts, (as reported by the Cedar Rapids Gazette on January 25):

"Beyond the anthem, the bill also would 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.”

We have Iowa Standards for the teaching of social studies as part of 21st Century Skills in required American history and government classes and threaded throughout other content areas. Teachers create lessons about these concepts with increasing sophistication as students grow up. These are civics lessons. As early as in first grade, there are specific standards for the teaching of democratic principles:

For example, in first grade the Content Anchor Standard directs teachers to apply “Civic Virtues and Democratic Principles.”

“Describe a situation that exemplifies democratic principles including, but not limited to, equality, freedom, liberty, respect for individual rights, and deliberation. " You can find these and other standards by grade level and content here at educate.iowa.gov/pk-12/standards.

Working together in teams, social studies teachers and those in other disciplines support these concepts in their lessons. Students read about patriotic role models, draw pictures in art and learn songs in music that relate to patriotic themes. At middle school and high school levels, students learn more in depth. They practice debating, voting, analyzing and writing about public issues. As adults, college students have required classes in the Social Sciences as part of a liberal arts curriculum.

Looking back, Iowa's only President, Herbert Hoover, signed the law in 1931 to make the "Star Spangled Banner" our official national anthem. President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order in 1916 to make the "Star Spangled Banner” our military’s anthem. The lyrics were written to honor the withstanding of the British assault on Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor during the night in September, 1814. The tune had been popular in America with various lyrics, but originally the music had been written and sung in Great Britain, in a gentlemen's drinking club. See the Smithsonian's documents on these and related topics, available on line to all.

I think this House Study Bill has more to do with the fact that this is an election year than that we need (more!) legislation on what we should or should not be teaching. The Iowa Legislature is insulting every educator, pre-K-college, with HSB 587.

At the very least, this is a campaign tactic — the latest "straw man" to fight — or at worst, this is a Red Scare tactic (both tactics we also teach about) that is becoming more prevalent each year in our politics. Both tactics seek to create fear in the minds of voters that there is an internal enemy threatening our state or country to fight.

In this case, educators are again the target of mainly majority Iowa Republican legislators, who do this instead of working on real problems also covered in The Gazette: clean air, clean water, loss of topsoil; and people issues: hunger, health care, homelessness, job creation. I urge voters to contact their representatives to stop their war on educators and to start doing substantive work on Iowa's real needs.

Kathleen Van Steenhuyse has been an educator since teaching as graduate assistant at Georgetown University in 1970. She was a K-12 substitute for six different school districts in Arizona and worked as an adjunct at Clarke University in Dubuque, her undergraduate alma mater. She was social studies department chair at Waterloo East High School, dean of Social Sciences/Career Options at Kirkwood Community College and most recently supervised student teachers as an adjunct for Mt. Mercy University.