The rationale for having kids read poetry and “good” literature was to provide them with what were considered the very best models.

To give them inferior or trivial material to work with, such as the song mentioned above is akin to child-abuse, I believe. Anything we give them to sing or read or even ask them to make or do should be something of intrinsic value for them that they will treasure in years to come.

One Monday morning he did go
Down to the meadow for to mow (etc.).

He had not mowed half ’round the field
When a pesky serpent bit at his heel.

They took him home to Molly dear,
Which made him feel so very queer.

Now Molly had two ruby lips
With which the pizen she did sip.

She also had a rotten tooth,
And so the pizen it killed them both.

Still both these songs have much to recommend them as part of the American musical heritage, as it were. They also function as memory “hooks to hang your hat on” — when you come to learn real history – about the gold rush or the puritan settlers of Massachusetts.

The very best are the collections for children compiled by the distinguished American avant guard composer Ruth Crawford Seeger (Pete Seeger’s stepmother), who also wrote extensively on how folk songs should be used as pedagogy.

Ruth Crawford Seeger’s work is curently used in the American Kodaly method of teaching music. The Kodaly method was developed in Hungary and aadapted by one of his followers in Finland. It is also being adopted by Singapore.

No need to reinvent the wheel when the very best have already won world-wide recognition and been used for decades.

Children are aware of the major themes of life, no matter how much the adults would like to shield them from sin and darkness. The children know about the sin and darkness because they live here,and they are vastly helped by processing their fears and feelings through singing with adults. A child is better prepared for the death of his beloved pet if he’s familiar with ‘Go Tell Aunt Rhody.’ He’s better prepared for a funeral if he is used to hearing his mother sing, ‘Train is A-Coming,’ or ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.’ My own children have weathered very hard economic times through the help of such songs as ‘Hard Times Come Again No More,’ and ‘Life, Let Us Cherish.’ In the 1970′s recession I heard my own mother sing, ‘Gospel Plow,’ and we all learned together to ‘keep your hand on the plow, hold on, hold on.’

American folk songs are full of the stuff of life–love, death, marriage, revenge, motherhood, travel, patriotism, loss, hope, joy…and they also contain a tremendous amount of historical context.

I have always been glad to see traditional American folk songs in the Core Knowledge curriculum. They are the American child’s birthright, in my opinion, and I’m sorry for any children who find themselves bereft of the rich language and interesting imagery of folk songs.

My husband and I are folk musicians. Our four sons are musicians, as well. We sing traditional music and play dulcimer, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, autoharp, and guitar. We give small performances in our city, in an effort to keep this humble part of our musical heritage alive.

I just can’t believe American second graders are singing about ‘building schema’ to the tune of Clementine. Give them Clementine.

On the other hand, I was in a different 1st grade classroom where the the kid used the term “com-moo-tive” property, which I’m pretty sure he didn’t totally understand. Why not just call it “Any Order”?