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School Defends “Occupy” Song For 8-year-olds
Posted in Top Stories | 55 comments
Jan 3, 2012
By Todd Starnes/TWITTER
A Virginia school district is defending a song allegedly written and performed by a group of third graders about the Occupy Wall Street movement that conservative bloggers are calling a form of indoctrination.
The song, “Part of the 99,” was performed by children at Woodbrook Elementary School in Albemarle County, Virginia.
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A spokesman for the school system said as far as they were concerned there isn’t a controversy and called criticism of the program unfortunate.
“We really don’t censor the topics that students come up with,” school spokesman Phil Giaramita told Fox News & Commentary. “This is the first time we’ve had the lyrics of one of these songs criticized.”
The controversy surrounding the song was first reported by the Weasel Zippers website.
“They’re actually claiming third-grade children wrote these lyrics and chose the topic as well,” Weasel Zippers wrote. “Because what eight-year-old child isn’t obsessed with class warfare?”
Giaramita said the song was part of a program sponsored by Kid Pan Alley. The boys and girls worked with a facilitator to come up with a theme and lyrics for a song. The songs are not allowed to promote any political or personal agenda.
“This was written four months ago,” he said. “And I think this particular issue of the Occupy movement was being looked at in a different way than it is today.”
But some critics are wondering how a group of eight-year-old children could write the following lyrics:
Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent
I used to be one of the 1 percent
I worked all the time
Never saw my family
Couldn’t make life rhyme
Then the bubble burst
It really, really hurt
I lost my money
Lost my pride
Lost my home
Now I’m part of the 99
Some people have it all
But they still don’t think they have enough
They want more money
A faster ride
They’re not content
Never satisfied
Yes — they’re the 1 percent
I used to be sad, now I’m satisfied
’Cause I really have enough
Though I lost my yacht and plane
Didn’t need that extra stuff
Could have been much worse
You don’t need to be first
’Cause I’ve got my friends
Here by my side
Don’t need it all
I’m so happy to be part of the 99
Giaramita said he has no doubts that eight-year-old children could write such lyrics and denied that teachers might have influenced their song choice.
“Students aren’t told what to write by either school officials or by the people associated with Kid Pan Alley,” he said. “I’ve talked with teachers and they tell me you’d be amazed at how creative a lot of children are these days – even younger than that.”
“I’ve spoken with the Kid Pan Alley people, the principal and they all say the same thing – kids aren’t told what to write and you would be surprised or amazed at how creative and how thoughtful children even at that age are,” he said.
However, Kid Pan Alley issued a statement to NewsPlex.com expressing concern about the song.
“Last November, when the Kid Pan Alley Board of Directors was made aware of the song in question, we took swift action to clarify our guidelines for lyrical content,” the statement read.
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