PATRIOTIC OBSERVANCES
POSITION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN RIGHT OF PARENTS TO OBJECT (P.A.) AUCKLAND, July 15. There is no regulation compelling parents to agree to their children taking part in patriotic observances, including the reciting of poems or the singing of songs in school, states an Education Department memorandum received at a meeting of the Auckland Education Board to-day in reply to a question as to what attitude should be adopted regarding parents who refuse to allow their children to take part in these observances. The question arose out of a letter from the headmaster of the Edgecumbe School concerning Iwo parents who arc Jehovah's Witnesses and who object to their children reciting patriotic poems or songs. The departmental memorandum added that it was unusual even for parents with religious scruples to adopt this extreme attitude, but it would be impossible to penalise the children'who were carrying out the wishes of their parents. During the discussion it was staled that the poems and songs objected to by the Jehovah’s Witness parents included “ Lest We Forget ” and “ There’ll Always Be An England.” The board decided to forward a strong protest to the department and to renew its previous representations concerning the need for action.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 24969, 16 July 1942, Page 4
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202PATRIOTIC OBSERVANCES Otago Daily Times, Issue 24969, 16 July 1942, Page 4
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