# Did you learn square dancing in elementary school? Did anyone ever tell you why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960 "2004-02-19T05:32:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/121 "2018-03-16T11:31:05Z")
Square dancing, waltz, the lindy, polka, I think the foxtrot, and yes, the hustle and I think the twist. Students left gym class well prepared to avoid the dance floor at any wedding. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/122 "2018-03-16T13:03:13Z")
Square dancing was always the unit just before we got to play with the giant [parachute](http://www.kidactivities.net/category/games-parachute.aspx). I’m pretty sure the teachers designed it that way on purpose so we’d play along and not be assholes since we had something to look forward to once square dancing was over. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/123 "2018-03-16T14:28:39Z")
Now that I’m woke, I know that Henry Ford introduced the idea of square dancing in our public schools to save us all from the harms of jazz (and somehow, Jews). [America’s wholesome square dancing tradition is a tool of white supremacy](https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/) ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/124 "2018-03-16T14:36:22Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Now that I’m woke, I know that Henry Ford introduced the idea of square dancing in our public schools to save us all from the harms of jazz (and somehow, Jews). > > [America’s wholesome square dancing tradition is a tool of white supremacy](https://qz.com/1153516/americas-wholesome-square-dancing-tradition-is-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/) I knew it! Now I feel better about all my hate for square dancing. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/125 "2018-03-16T15:18:59Z")
We did square dancing sometimes in third grade. I preferred it to kickball (not sports oriented), but liked free-play best - swings, see-saws, slides, a merry go round and a chain bridge was my idea of fun. I remember it was third grade because the new boy arrived during PE, and I thought he was cute and hoped he’d get paired with me, and he did and was my boyfriend for the rest of the year. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/126 "2018-03-16T15:32:54Z")
> [@Treebeard](#): > > Yep, it’s been going on for a long time. I had to do it in sixth grade, 1958, in Mr. Warhime’s class in Woodmoor Elementary School in suburban Baltimore. No one liked it, no one knew why we had to do it. And, get this - in fourth grade, same school, Miss Danenberg’s class, we had to do the Minuet!!! Why? Why? WHY? > [@BiblioCat](#): > > Hey, neighbor! I grew up in suburban Baltimore, too. > I don’t remember doing it in elementary school, but I do remember learning square dancing in Junior High. > Our gym classes were segregated for that, too, so it was all girls. At that time (mid-late 70s), we wore these hideous yellow dress things, with bloomers underneath, rather than shorts and t-shirts for gym, so I can only imagine how bizarre the whole thing must have looked. Carroll County, MD also had square dancing. Middle School, late 70’s. We also danced over bamboo poles that were laid down and knocked on the floor in rhythm. I can’t remember where that came from or why kids mostly inclined to join FFA would need to know that. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/127 "2018-03-16T15:45:26Z")
yes, I had to do this in 5th grade (this would have been the mid-'80s.) I have no idea why we had to do it. I certainly didn’t get anything out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/128 "2018-03-16T15:45:34Z")
Yes, we did it in elementary and I think middle school. 80’s. Not in high school. I never questioned the motives behind it, and kinda liked it. In retrospect I think it was kind of a way to socialize the guys and girls in an innocent way. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/129 "2018-03-16T16:15:28Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Gee, can’t believe I missed this thread the first 2 times it came up… Sooner or later the zombies get everyone! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/130 "2018-03-17T00:30:21Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Now that I’m woke, I know that Henry Ford introduced the idea of square dancing in our public schools to save us all from the harms of jazz (and somehow, Jews). Good rule of thumb…if something in America doesn’t make sense, it’s probably because someone was racist. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/131 "2018-03-17T01:30:16Z")
In our 50s, a friend of mine told me this anecdote: “When I was in school, I figured there were only two ways go get the girls to fall for me. Being the quarterback on the football team, or being the best dancer. Football was out of the question. Dancing worked.” ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/132 "2018-03-17T16:06:50Z")
I was sure I’d replied to this thread the first time, but oh well… Yes, I squaredanced in grade six as well. To the song “Montego Bay”. The Mexican Hat Dance was in there somehow as well. There was no context or explanation; it was just Something We Had to Do. It feels vaguely racist now, like looking at how old Westerns portray Indigenous people. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/133 "2018-03-17T17:14:04Z")
Had to do it in England as well, along with a variety of traditional English folk dances. Two different primary schools. Generally with an annual performance at some summer fair thing. Ugh. I always got paired with the worst behaved boys, because I was the biggest girl so I could drag them round by force if necessary. Getting dragged to barn dances was a regular feature of my childhood, and it’s still my mother’s go-to idea party. She will then spent half the evening attempting to guilt trip me on to the dance floor, because the people she invited either don’t want to dance or are elderly and unable to do so. She may have missed her calling as a PE teacher. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/134 "2018-03-17T17:24:59Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Had to do it in England as well, along with a variety of traditional English folk dances. Two different primary schools. Generally with an annual performance at some summer fair thing. Ugh. I went to a primary school in England in the 1950s that might have been thought quite progressive in the 1930s. No square dancing, but we did do maypole dancing and a couple of folk dances. _Gathering Peascods_ is one thing, but I hate to think of the insurance bill if they were to try to teach a class of 30+ 9-year-olds nowadays to _Strip The Willow_. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/135 "2018-03-20T03:07:21Z")
We had square dancing in high school in the 80s. I couldn’t help but think how completely out of touch the pilots of our education were. Square dancing? SQUARE-FREAKING DANCING?? Sure, I’ll just take of my Judas Priest jean jacket and square dance with some Material Girl clone… And what are we doing for third period, Aztec berry picking? ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/136 "2018-03-20T08:46:17Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > We had square dancing in high school in the 80s. I couldn’t help but think how completely out of touch the pilots of our education were. > > Square dancing? SQUARE-FREAKING DANCING?? Sure, I’ll just take of my Judas Priest jean jacket and square dance with some Material Girl clone… > > And what are we doing for third period, Aztec berry picking? it’s not that surprising. IIRC we’ve had more than one thread here where someone basically asked “how can I force my child to like the music I like instead of the crap he/she wants to listen to?” ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/137 "2018-03-20T16:45:44Z")
We did square dancing in elementary school in the early ‘70s (NJ suburbs). I remember a lot of the songs we sang in music class were old folk songs and ‘lite’ protest songs (Guthrie, Dylan) so maybe it was all some kind of folkie revivalist commie pinko thing. Some people posted earlier about socialization and safely bringing the two camps together, sweaty palms and all. That sounds good, too. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/138 "2018-03-20T17:16:26Z")
> [@burundi](#): > > You don’t lose the Virginia Reel. Speak for yourself. 😃 I can lose at **any** dance move. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/139 "2018-03-20T17:24:27Z")
I’ve sometimes wondered (including as a kid) how many of the school teachers teaching square dancing even **like** square dancing. My old principal played (badly, no rhythm) in an old-timey band (polkas etc), but he wasn’t teaching the class. My old PE teacher, who was, had absolutely no clue what he was doing with dancing - he did it because he felt he had to, and it showed. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960/140 "2018-03-20T17:27:57Z")
I blame [Cecil Sharp](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Sharp). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-learn-square-dancing-in-elementary-school-did-anyone-ever-tell-you-why/229960.md?page=8)