Carter Brown – News Writer
On Apr. 1, it has been informed to the Weekly that, at the start of the next school year, the popular “Three Crowns” curriculum will be renamed to “Six Flags”, after the six continents that humans currently inhabit. The change is meant to be more inclusive and indicative of a focus on understanding different worldviews no matter what part of the world you come from. The transition has been in the works for a while, and due to COVID putting global on a larger scale than seen before, it provided an even bigger incentive for this change.
The new Six Flags curriculum will have six different paths, or “rides”, you can choose from each semester. These “rides” include the regular Three Crowns courses but includes courses about a culture from that continent as well. The idea is to help the student take a “ride” through that continent while completing their regular courses, staying true to the new Six Flags slogan – “Go show the world! Go Six Flags!” – which can be used in addition to the rouser to show your Six Flags pride.
There is some controversy, however, as there is the popular Texas-based amusement park chain Six Flags has decided to take action against Gustavus in the form of a lawsuit. The amusement park company claims that Gustavus has “ripped them off” in their ideas, citing an identical name, somewhat identical gimmick (“rides”), and a near identical slogan to theirs which is “Go big! Go Six Flags!”.
Crustavus’ claims, while unofficial at the moment, that any similarities to the popular amusement park is purely coincidental. The new Six Flags curriculum slogan is meant to combine Crustavus’ popular “Show the World” saying with some “hype” for the new curriculum in hopes of continuing to attract students despite the change. In addition, the “rides” are named so in order to offer an exciting feel to the routes rather than having students feel as if they are just choosing a path, rather than experiencing something.
Other than this information, there is not a lot else to report on the matter as the curriculum is still not going to be finalized until the 2021-2022 academic year, and the amusement park, Six Flags, has not yet filed the lawsuit. An attempt was made to contact the CEO of Six Flags, the amusement park, but there was no answer and no comment was offered. Lastly, another decision was made that Gus the Lion will be handling this lawsuit as the face of Crustavus, since he is our mascot. Therefore, any additional questions or requests for additional information should be directed towards him – wherever he may be. Please continue to give your support to both Gus the Lion and the rest of the Crustavus community as we try and get through this. We all need it.