Associated Press --The following is an article entitled, "Nothing Wrong With Patriotic Education."
"The United States, which advocates democracy and freedom, lays stronger emphasis on patriotic education. A survey conducted in 18 developed countries in the West shows that Americans express the greatest pride in and are most willing to fight for their country.
"The US patriotic education includes history, civics, national ceremonies, crisis management and culture. That citizens should feel they are loved and protected by their country is a prerequisite for patriotic education, and the US sets a great example. We Chinese actually better the U.S. in love of country."
The author of this statement the Director of the Center For Communication Studies at China's Hainan University. It has been praised by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
But in Arvada Colo. Yesterday, hundreds of students walked out of classrooms around suburban Denver on Tuesday in protest over a conservative-led school board proposal to focus history education on topics that promote citizenship, patriotism and respect for authority, in a show of civil disobedience that the new standards would aim to downplay.
The school board proposal that triggered the walkouts in Jefferson County calls of instructional materials that present positive aspects of the nation and its heritage and down plays any negativity.
It would establish a committee to regularly review texts and course plans, starting with Advanced Placement history, to make sure materials "promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights" and don't "encourage or condone civil disorder, social strike or disregard of the law."
Julie Williams, part of the school boards conservative majority said, "All citizens of Colorado should read the statement endorsed by the Chinese Communists by the Hainan University professor. Then they would side with Arvada school board's patriotic education plan."
