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Children's songs overshadowed by pop music

GAINESVILLE, Fla., June 3 (UPI) -- A new study finds that Americans are losing a large part of their national identity because they no longer sing the songs of their heritage.

That includes the "Star Spangled Banner" as well as lullabies, children's ditties and folk songs, according to Marilyn Ward, who did the research for her doctoral dissertation at the University of Florida.

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"When people stand up and don't sing the 'Star Spangled Banner,'

there's a reason for that," Ward said. "They don't know it."

The study found that many of the songs of history are being ignored in favor of current pop hits.

Today's children are more likely to know the lyrics to songs such as Britney Spears' "Oops I Did it Again" or "Lose Yourself" by Eminem, than those of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," Ward said.

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"The study found that, overall, the vast majority of young people could not sing patriotic, folk and children's songs, because teachers who teach them at all frequently don't go over the songs enough for students to learn them," she said.

"Most students could not be expected to sing from memory songs such as 'Home on the Range,' 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' or 'Bingo,'" Ward said.

Part of the problems is that financially ailing school districts

nationwide are cutting music programs to save money, experts say.

Ward surveyed 4,000 music teachers nationwide from elementary to

high school in the summer and early fall of 2002 and 1,792 responded.

She asked them how much they taught and how well their students knew by memory 100 well-known songs considered representative of the American heritage.

Most of the teachers said that few students would be able to sing

the songs and that they had spent little time teaching them. Folk songs were the most neglected, followed by children's and patriotic songs.

"Although Americans say that the singing of folk songs and songs of our heritage are important, we are teaching very few of them in the schools," said music professor Russell Robinson, who supervised the study.

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"Perhaps this research will alert educators and parents that what we say we want for our young people is not necessarily what we're teaching," he said.

Urban schoolteachers taught the most children's songs, followed by those in rural schools. Suburban schools lagged far behind in every category. Middle schools had the worst record for teaching folk songs and high schools the best, Ward said.

California was the least child-song friendly state, receiving the lowest score for knowledge of children's songs. Nebraska ranked highest overall and in the children's songs category, while South Dakota was tops in patriotic songs and Kansas in folk songs, she said.

Hispanic teachers taught far more patriotic songs than any other

ethnic group, as did music teachers who had been in the profession the longest, Ward said. Private school teachers consistently outperformed public school teachers in every category, she said.

Mike Blakeslee, deputy executive director of the National

Association for Music Education, said he is not surprised by the study's findings and believes that cuts in public school music programs are a factor.

"Especially lately, we have been receiving a lot of anecdotal

accounts of severe challenges to music programs," he said. "It's a truism that in hard times music programs are the first to go. Our experience from our members across the nation seems to bear that out."

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