Are Jingle Bells and other Popular Children's Songs Problematic?

I teach instrumental music in elementary schools in a diverse school district. Over the past few years there has been a movement to remove songs with problematic history from the curriculum. Reading blogs like this one has shed light on the shear number of problematic songs is elementary school education. At first, I had an open mind, learning and cutting out songs that could be offensive. Yet the list continues to grow every year and now almost half of the songs in our school provided curriculum are banned.

I teach instrumental music so we aren't singing lyrics and when I lesson plan, I am thinking about pedagogy and technical progression, not which songs are currently cool - there are only so many songs that use 3 or 5 notes or teach certain skills. For every song that is removed, I have to find another non-problematic song that serves the same teaching purpose. I understand that some songs should clearly not be used, but as the list grows there are more fuzzy areas. For instance, "Baa Baa Black Sheep" is on the problematic list. Does that mean that students shouldn't learn "Twinkle Little Star" or the "ABC Song" because it shares a melody? Where is the line drawn?

As I have come across more songs with murky histories and multiple versions of lyrics, I have started to feel more strongly about keeping traditional American tunes in school curriculum unless they contain well-known lyrics that could be hurtful to students in my class. Unfortunately I live in a pretty litigious where I feel like I am walking on eggshells even when I am trying to do the right thing.

The most recent song to come under fire is "Jingle Bells". Today a coworker told me we are no longer supposed to let the students learn it because of it's historical connection to minstrel shows. This makes me sad because it is the only seasonal song I know that doesn't have religious implications, is easy enough for students to play after 4 months on their instrument, and most students already know and are motivated to learn. Should I stop teaching "Jingle Bells" in my public school classroom?

Submitted October 07, 2021 at 11:12PM by AspiringtoThrive https://ift.tt/3AobaE2