When the commotion of the start of third period dies down, instead of jumping right into the day’s news, the students of CHS listen to recordings of the national anthem and Neil Armstrong. The question on many students’ minds is “Why?”
Don’t worry; there is a reason behind this strange playlist.
One explanation circulating among students and teachers for the music has been that CHS needs to be more patriotic.
But Principal Rick Lopez points to California Education Code 5272, which actually mandates patriotic observance in public schools, as the reason behind the tunes. Playing this music is merely a way of satisfying the state requirement.
Most of us remember standing up beside our seats in elementary school, putting our right hand over our hearts and reciting the pledge of allegiance. While we may think this is a tradition left solely to elementary students, some high schools still recite the pledge of allegiance every morning to satisfy this mandate.
Lopez notes that we were previously out of compliance with the mandate.
Doing the pledge of allegiance every morning “isn’t really our history, so we do music,” Lopez adds.
Other questions that have many teachers and students guessing include “What is playing?” and “Who even picks this music?”
The music itself varies from recordings of Armstrong’s first steps on the moon to Whitney Houston belting out national classics.
The song for the day isn’t picked from some state approved playlist meant to arouse patriotism in our hearts, though. Songs are typically chosen by the principal’s secretary Lisa Brazil, but students who make appropriate recommendations can have their song played as well.
While Carmel High students may miss 2012 grad Ryan Anderson’s entertaining introductions to the bulletin, CHS can still enjoy the musical styling of DJ America each morning.
CHS doesn’t have much of a choice anyways; it’s the law.