Same reason I was taught waltz and folk dancing. I assume it was some misguided attempt at hooking us to an imagined shared, but unrealistically romanticised, national .. stuff. Ofc this sort of thing has the opposite effect and now everyone collectively hate waltzing and folk dancing even as fewer and fewer people remember why.
Dr. Pickleface to give you insight on educational practices once again! Developing kids go through stages that often reveal previously undiagnosed problems and offer possible solutions. We teach students to play the recorder because it tests lung capacity and simultaneously trains the brain with coping mechanisms for breathing corrections. It is also an easy way for teachers to create a body of evidence that a child could be suffering from asthma, which often shows up in the 4th grade.
Square dancing is a way for educators to assess whether a student is capable of following a series of instructions and how long that series can be (though admittedly most use other ways to test this now due to the stigma of square dancing being racist), which is an important measure of development.
There are theories that it was heavily promoted by a certain car manufacturer as a way to keep white kids from listening to "black music", which hold enough ground that most schools have removed square dancing from their curriculum and replaced it with world cultural folk dancing (typically step dancing of some sort).
I can confirm this to be true. But for some reason it was a select group of kids (myself included) that got to do it. What in the hell made us the choice?
I can confirm this to be true. But for some reason it was a select group of kids (myself included) that got to do it. What in the hell made us the choice?
Square dancing is a way for educators to assess whether a student is capable of following a series of instructions and how long that series can be (though admittedly most use other ways to test this now due to the stigma of square dancing being racist), which is an important measure of development.