Greta Hawkins

By now you have heard the story about the Principal of P.S. 90 Greta Hawkins.  She has told her kindergarten teachers to ditch Lee Greenwood’s ballad, “God Bless the USA” from the school’s June 20th commencement in favor of Justin Beiber's "Baby".  The administrator’s explanation was that “we don’t want to offend other cultures,” the New York Post reported.

Hold on a minute.  She doesn't want to offend other cultures studying at an AMERICAN school in AMERICA by allowing the kindergärtners to sing a song about being a proud AMERICAN??  What am I missing here??  

Not surprisingly City officials said that the reason was because the lyrics were not age-appropriate, and they back her decision.  Let me see if I have this right, "God Bless The USA" is not age appropriate, but Justin Bieber’s hit, “Baby.” is?  Shall we take a look at a sampling of lyrics from both songs to see if we can understand the reasoning behind this seemingly numskull move.

Here are some lyrics from "God Bless The USA" in which Lee Greenwood sang:

"I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free, And I won't forget the men who dies who gave that right to me,  And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today, Cause there aint no doubt I love this land God Bless The U.S.A." (Sounds pretty age appropriate to me, not to mention very patriotic..something kids need to be taught..patriotism)

And now here are some lyrics from Justin Beiber's "Baby" where Justin sings:

"Are we an item?  Girl, quit playin' "we're just friends," what are you sayin'?  Said "there's another," and looked right in my eyes, my first love broke my heart for the first time?  And I was like baby, baby, baby, no.  Baby, baby, baby, oh.  I thought you's always be mine."

The Principal’s decision has caused some disagreement among parents and other teachers. The mother of one of the students, Luz Lozada, said, “A lot of people fought to move to America to live freely, so that song should be sung with a whole lot of pride,” adding, that another one of her children — a fifth-grader — sang the song last year to an applauding crowd that gave the performance a standing ovation. A school teacher chimed in, “I’ve never come across anyone who felt it insulted their culture.”

Is it me, or do those folks at P.S. 90 and city officials off the mark, or are they right on target?  Which song would you rather have your kindergärtner singing for commencement? (Note: The Principal recently stated that Justin Biebers song is also inappropriate for kindergärtners to sing. Big deal, she has already lost all credibility as far as many people and parents of students of P.S. 90 are concerned)