Keeping politics out of government run schools requires constant vigilance. In recent years, political ideology has been brazenly imposed on students across the country. Woodbrook Elementary School in Charlottesville, Virginia, provides the latest example of a government school imposing left wing ideology, this time with the Marxist rhetoric of the Occupy movement.
Woodbrook Elementary, (principal Lisa Molinaro), allowed leftist activists into the school to train third graders in writing songs which were performed at an assembly organized by an outside group – Kid Pan Alley – in October of this year. The tune the 3rd graders “wrote” and performed could have come from the soundtrack at Zuccotti park, minus the drug overdoses and rapes.
Some people have it all,but they don’t think that they have enoughThey want more moneyA faster rideThey’re not contentNever satisfied
Yes- they are the 1 percentI used to be one of the 1 percentI worked all the timeNever saw my familyCouldn’t make life rhymeThen the bubble burstIt really, really hurtI lost my moneyLost my prideLost my homeNow I’m part of the 99I used to be sad now I’m satisfiedCause I really have enoughThough I lost my yacht and planeDidn’t need that extra stuffCould have been much worseYou don’t need to be firstCause I’ve got my friendsHere by my sideDon’t need it allI’m happy to be part of the 99.
Remember, these are third graders. The simplistic left wing economic nonsense of this ditty boggles the mind. But to an impressionistic third grader, it plants poisonous seeds at odds with long egalitarian American traditions that disdain class hatred. It mocks American traditions of industry, hard work and accomplishment. It teaches the young to distrust and dislike, which of course is a tactic employed by thug cultures and governments throughout history.
Kid Pan Alley’s infiltration into government schools goes well beyond Woodbrook Elementary in Charlottesville. They have a presence in Payne Elementary in Lynchburg (VA), Union Elementary in Montpelier (VT), Campbell Court Elementary in Martinsville (VA), Burnley Elementary in Charlottesville (VA), Thompson Elementary in Marshall (VA), Pierce Elementary in Remington (VA), Red Hill Elementary in Virginia, Brownsville Elementary in Crozet (VA), and many many more.
When you consider the leftist activists who introduced this garbage into Woodbrook Elementary, the agenda is even more clear. Kid Pan Alley receives money from the William and Mary Greve Foundation.
The Greve Foundation funds many other causes at odds with American traditions, including the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which is run by a 9-11 conspiracy theorist. The Greve Foundation is headed by John Kiser, III, author of Communist Entrepreneurs : Unknown Innovators in the Global Economy. (From a review: “the book is of value in confronting tired stereotypes about the inherent inferiority of technology under Communism.”) Kiser is from Sperryville, Virginia, which might explain why so many Virginia elementary schools.
You can watch Kid Pan Alley’s video “If I Change One Thing” here for another whiff of Occupy. The kids sing the answer: “If I could change one thing, I’d change all the rules. Freedom would be free. I’d be my own boss no matter what the cost.” Sort of like a mob.
The nonsense continues in the song: “What if kids could vote, its love that sets us free, when everyone has what they needed. There would be no more war. Yeah, that’s what kids are for.”
Kid Pan Alley is also skilled at messaging in subtle ways. It’s not often you find such veiled disdain for this group of heroes. From Kid Pan Alley’s Changing the History of the World: “Each generation adds to the history of the world, each generation does it’s part, it doesn’t have to be winning World War II.” Why choose the Greatest Generation as a contrast? Was it because the contrast between liberty and tyranny was so stark then, so clear to most Americans in that age? Was it because moral relativism had few adherents among those who won World War II?
I’ve just scratched the surface of Kid Pan Alley in this article. There is no telling what other subtle and obvious leftist messages are bring brought into government schools by Kid Pan Alley’s musical projects. Does Kid Pan Alley receive any taxpayer money? If so from whom, and how much? What bureaucrats are making the decisions to fund this presence in schools throughout the country? What are the backgrounds of the board members?
Use the songwriting process as a way of inspiring children in the creative process so that they understand that they can becreators of music and not just consumers;
Promote self-awareness and self-confidence by attaching value to the students’ creative impulses;
To help children experience creative expression as a means of embracing diversity, teamwork, and collaboration by supporting creativity as a prime skill to all critical thinking and problem-solving;
While Kid Pan Alley addresses many objective in the Standards of Learning in the areas of creativity, music, English, performance, and connection to other areas of learning, it most importantly helps children to learn and increases their ability to learn;
The prevention, intervention and/or healing of crisis situations by helping children articulate their feelings, express their grief and document what has happened within their community through song;
To teach children respect for intellectual property. Children who have written their own songs have a first hand understanding of the negative effects of downloading on creators and their communities;
Raise funds for more arts enrichment programs through sales of the CD;
Create new models for musicians and songwriters to work within their own community; and to
To promote community awareness of the arts as essential elements of instruction in the lives of children and, to foster collaboration between students, teachers, administrators, artists, and the community through working together in a creative process and to foster partnerships among diverse organizations.
