National Anthem.

[StickThatClutch]

Canadian national anthem every f**king morning in class. Stand up, shut up, arms at your side, and either listen or sing along. No one sings along....

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That type of patriotism is gonna lend well to the seperation of Quebec and the subsequent invasion of Canada by the USA.

Is that a standard practice in all Canadian schools? Here they make the kids recite the pledge of alliegence.

[EMDII]

You don't just honor the abstract flag when you place your hand over your heart. You also render honor to those named and nameless heroes and heroines who made it possible for you to drive your 855 T5-R to the latte shop.

Stand up and thank them. Silently. They ask nothing more than your respect.

[Chris_R]

You don't just honor the abstract flag when you place your hand over your heart. You also render honor to those named and nameless heroes and heroines who made it possible for you to drive your 855 T5-R to the latte shop.

Stand up and thank them. Silently. They ask nothing more than your respect.

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Amen.

[StickThatClutch]

You don't just honor the abstract flag when you place your hand over your heart. You also render honor to those named and nameless heroes and heroines who made it possible for you to drive your 855 T5-R to the latte shop.

Stand up and thank them. Silently. They ask nothing more than your respect.

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That's the thing. Why do people think its such a burden for them to pay a moment's respect for all those who've given up so much so that we can enjoy our way of life?

[C70drvr]

Listen, do you honestly think a room full of hormone raging teenagers really give a crap about the national anthem? Understand the workings, they don't....

[merlin390]

Listen, do you honestly think a room full of hormone raging teenagers really give a crap about the national anthem? Understand the workings, they don't....

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Kid you can thank your parents for your lack of respect for those who came before you.

[Chris_R]

Sadly, he's right... These days kids have no reverence for much of anything unless some over-hyped, over-publicized freak says it on <insert your generation's MTV-type gutter-trash TV>.

The fact is the school system does not (and can not) take the time to make history even remotely interesting. They simply stuff the kids full of facts and numbers in a vain attempt to appease some test-score systems.

Not intended or directed specifically at futr... Just a statement in general.

Parents, myself included, are also guilty of not spending the time to instill National pride in their children. It's a little different at my house; the kids know their Dad "went to war" and I do take opportunities to share that with them - but usually wait until they show interest. They are proud of my Military (Army) background. We even occasionally go to Military-specific sites/museums like the USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC - the Aviation museum in Ohio, etc. Of course, it's not usually their idea.

Not that I'm a warmonger or super-gung-ho GI Joe or anything... I just want them to see things that helped shape our place in this world.

I was raised to believe that the Military was a bad thing (Democrat-hippy Kalifornia family - but I escaped and recovered. ) - completely untrue. The Army opened doors for me that a college degree (at least from a school I was qualified to go to ) could never have.

Sorry, not sure how this got to be a pro-military tirade, but there ya go.

-Chris

[C70drvr]

We do have pride for our country, but only express it in all glory on say Canada day, or when someone from a different country all of a sudden decides to give their opinion and explain how their country is "better." Then all of a sudden we care. You should see people around here on Canada Day. I've been in Boston twice and New York once on the 4th of July, and it's nothing like here. Hundreds of thousands of people running around screaming with Canadian flags as capes, some have faces painted. Public drinking, smoking weed, just everyone going crazy. I remember being on the bus heading downtown that day, and a group about 20 people about 18-19 got on the bus, screaming, laughing, then they started singing O-Canada as loud as they could. Their pitchwas way off. All holding beer bottles, freshly opened, they weren't even drunk yet. Downtown was pretty much the same, but instead of 20 people, there were half a million. A large amount of them teenagers sporting the red and white.

As a teenager, you have more important things in life to worry about than, "Are you giving enough respect, and devotion to your country every morning." Am I going to be shot if I don't? Grades and girls are more important at that age...

So we just end up saving everything for Canada Day, or as I said, when we feel somewhat threatened or insulted by another nation. At this age it's much more fun to turn your national pride into one big a** even't where you express it to the highest degree. Rather than stand up in a classroom every day and sing the national anthem, which may sound like a great idea, but when you're having a bad day, you really have more important things to worry about. We still do it anyway, it's just not as fun as one may think.

[merlin390]

I'm leaving this alone..............

[EMDII]

So it's Canada day. What do you do on Armistice day, or ANZAC Day, or any other moment to pay your respects. YOU decide what to do with th eother 355 days of the year? Make a difference. Change yourself, and others will change too.

Or you can hang out with a better crowd.

[C70drvr]

Make a difference. Change yourself, and others will change too.

Or you can hang out with a better crowd.

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If you honestly think that will work, good luck. I know more about how they think than you do, and there is no "better crowd." "Come on guys, lets all stand and show how much we love our country." *pause for laughs* *realizes how horribly "corny" that statement sounded* There are no people that age in a school of almost 2000 students that will get upset if someone decides to talk to a friend during the national anthem. There's no point to get all pissy at people who don't stand for the anthem every morning, that still doesn't mean they don't respect their country. It just means they have more important things to do or would rather do something else at the moment.

I'll tell you this, I, or any other student my age, would not put off say good grades, or the chance to tell a friend a spur of the moment joke for the national anthem. Sure we love our country, but it's not like a groupe of teenagers are expected to be as patriotic as, say, war vets, they fought and died for their country, we didn't. We respect them for their sacrifices, and we show it when ever the subject arrises. But it's not a daily habit. Win a gold at the olympics, then we care. Get the #3 spot on the U.N.'s list of best cities to live in, then we care. A war vet. comes in to talk to us about his experiences, we have respect for him and our country.

The very idea that any of you should expect a group of teenagers to be daily obsessive patriotic nation loving people is laughable. Understand the mind of a teenage high school student. I guarantee you that at least 98% think the national anthem, every single day, every year of school is a waste of time.

A lot of you are in your 20's, 30's, 40's and older, and you think that it doesn't sound like a bad idea. But you're saying that after not experiencing it for several years, you almost have a desire to try it again. But I'll assure you, one you get into a routine of it, day after day, week after week, month after month, for years, it just becomes annoying.

Basically, it's forcing these student to show a minimum amount of patriotism. Why take people who already love their country, and force them to show it even more, even when they don't feel like it. Be happy that we're all not nation hating anarchists.

It's our choice if we want to stand for the national anthem, and thankfully we do have that choice legally. And in class, everyone stands for it, every morning, every week. Either because they're too stupid the realize that they have the right to stand or not, either that they're standing because they want to avoid confrontation with the professor, or they're standing because they love their country and are trying to set a good example. And not to mention, that they still continue what ever conversation they were having with a friend into the begining of the anthem.

Use common sense, think, which of those three do you think a teenage highschool student would be standing for.

It's no use to complain about how much kids these days don't show enough love for their country everyday. It's pointless to complain, and makes you sound like a whiney b*tch. Try to recall your highschool years, I highly doubt you were the model A nation loving saint of a student who stood tall and proud for their nation every morning because they just loved showing their pride and waving it around in people's faces.

Be thankful highschool students don't excersize their right to not stand. They stand by their own will every morning, because it's routine. That's how it works. I'd say that's pretty good. But the fact that you're expecting them to stand because they love their country. It's a nice pipe dream, but I'm sorry to say, it's not going to happen.

We stand every morning because it's routine, we show our national pride in large numbers during special events. You're talking to the guy who sat out the car sunroof downtown in the middle of February with no gloves, holding a Canadian flag attached to a hockey stick after Canada won the gold in men's hockey in 2002. When there was a huge parade or cars and flags by Parliament Hill. I love my country, and I'm damnn proud to be Canadian, I'm just not in the mood to express it every single day on someone elses schedule.

[EMDII]

Learn to express it for reasons other than those that are self-serving. Go find a member of the PPCLI (Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry) and tell them thanks, for no reason other than while you watched hockey, they got frat'd by a US F-16. They served while you played.

Patriotism isn't waving the falg, it's doing the right thing when no one is watching.

[C70drvr]

Learn to express it for reasons other than those that are self-serving. Go find a member of the PPCLI (Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry) and tell them thanks, for no reason other than while you watched hockey, they got frat'd by a US F-16. They served while you played.

Patriotism isn't waving the falg, it's doing the right thing when no one is watching.

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Yes, but sadly highschool students don't care.

[Kendall]

Merlin, you have no business jumping all over him for being honest. You contributed nothing to this convo other than giving this kid a hard time. He AT LEAST recognizes that its not quite right what he and his peers do.

c70 What do you think it is that makes your generation so apathetic? Is it the lack of depth in history taught at school? Is it the parents?

[Che'_Moderator]

Merlin, you have no business jumping all over him for being honest. You contributed nothing to this convo other than giving this kid a hard time. He AT LEAST recognizes that its not quite right what he and his peers do.

c70 What do you think it is that makes your generation so apathetic? Is it the lack of depth in history taught at school? Is it the parents?

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Who cares. Here is my take. I have loads of respect for well.. me. LOL

Ok no, god, ala, ganesh, country apple pie all great. But the last time I publicly showed any respect was probably when I waited till after the national anthem to fart at a game. Showing your pride/respect is great, but actually respecting is a different thing. So strange Canadian boy, keep on keep'n on. Veterans, I salute you. Everyone else, do what you think you should.