PATRIOTISM BY ROTE.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 215, 9 September 1921, Page 4

PATRIOTISM BY ROTE.

The Minister of Education and his department have no eympathy for ■parents who tell their children that they must not ealute the flag. Neither have we, nor, we should cay, have ninety-nine per cent, of the people of New Zealand. But while we believe that paying reepect to the flag and singing the National Anthem is excellent in principle, we fear Mr. Parr is in danger of over-doing thie method of inculcating patriotism. We know that this opinion of ours is shared by people of the depth and sincerity of whose patriotism there can be no question. The policy of saluting the flag in every echool once a week —we believe once a day has been proposed —tends to make patriotism mechanical, to dull by repetition the significance of ritual, and to turn into routine what ehould be inspiration. To teach patriotism by such direct methods applied bo frequently, its opposed to British tradition. The idea came from America, where the authorities find it necessary to use such methods as part of the process of turning immense numbers of alien children into American citizens. We have no such problem in New Zealand. The true patriotism cannot bo taught merely through salut* to tfhe flag. It can be taught only through proper instruction as to the meaning of the flag, and of love of country in the moral as well as the material sense. Such instruction should be accompanied occasionally by ceremonial homage to the flag but we are strongly convinced that the department would get better Teaulte from such ceremonial if it confined it to two or three occasions in the year. Frequent repetition must cheapen the significance of the ceremony. Finally, too much regimentation in patriotism is bound to promote reaction. If you over-etress the saluting of the flag, you will increase the number of those who object to any sort of reepect being paid to it.