don't shoot the pianist
he is doing the best he can

As a footnote to yesterday’s piece, the Burlington Township School District, where B. Bernice Young Elementary School is located, issued two letters to parents on Thursday and Friday:

September 24, 2009

Dear Burlington Township Families:

… The video is of a class of students singing a song about President Obama. The activity took place during Black History Month in 2009, which is recognized each February to honor the contributions of African Americans to our country. Our curriculum studies, honors and recognizes those who serve our country. The recording and distribution of the class activity were unauthorized.

September 25, 2009

Dear Burlington Township Families:

… We have learned that the video was posted on the author’s website without district approval or knowledge. It appears that another party copied the video from the author’s website and placed it on YouTube. We have been informed that the video has been removed from the author’s website.

… We have taken additional measures over the past two days to assure the safety and security of children and staff. We have worked very closely with our police department and school resource officers. We have had a police presence on our campuses and have increased administrative presence at the B. Bernice Young School. News crews have been kept off campuses. There were no incidents in our schools as a result of this matter. Our children, staff, and schools are safe and secure. We are working with our police department to have the video removed from YouTube.

They still don’t get it. To them, the problem wasn’t the political indoctrination of children in a public school; the problem was that the activity was recorded and posted on YouTube. In other words, as the old saying goes, they’re sorry they got caught.

If there was a handbook on how to become a modern dictator, one of the first instructions would probably be to indoctrinate every person between the ages of five and twenty-five. History is littered with examples of regimes that used youth movements to acquire a stranglehold on power: the Hitler Youth; the Soviet Young Pioneers; China’s Hongweibing (Red Guards). In Iran, Islamist student groups were at the forefront of the 1980 revolution.

Which makes this video all the more alarming. This is from B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, NJ, and apparently, this is what counts for music education these days.

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