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was made to the students of Rappahannock High School to participate in an essay contest on, “What is right about the United States.” With the permission and encouragement of the school administration, two notices were posted offering $25 for first prize and $15 for second place. Complex menting this suggested contest were copies of a letter from Senator Harry F. Byrd.
Six weeks later, contact with the school staff revealed that the contest had pulled a zero rating. In spite of teacher and administration prompting, not a single student was interested. Not one student in the Rappahannock High School was willing to write 500-600 words for $25.
And not a single student felt sufficiently committed to tell the world that there was a cherished blessing—Freedom—that called for gratitude. The contest was neither restricted to time or school hours.
While love of freedom cannot be fully equated by a refusal of one high school to engage in an essay contest of the values in the United States, nevertheless, it is a towering illustration of the so-what attitude. To blame the school or the home is no more effective in correcting the situation than a medical diagnosis without proper therapy. If love of country is not there it can be both taught and improved with required reading.
Give the students books like “Before Honor” by Capt. Eugene McDaniel, a P.O.W. for six years in North Vietnam—six years, enduring the cruel brutality and inhumanity sustained only by his fierce love of country and an abiding faith in Jesus Christ. Another book now in film portrayal is “The Hiding Place,” a dramatic account of how two sisters endured the viscious depravity of guards and conditions in German concencentration camps, imprisoned because' of their love for fellow man. The short classic of a generation or two ago, “The Man Without A Country” is very good reading for young men in their teens.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “the teaching in the school today be
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