Guest AuthorA South Dakota state senator proposed a bill this week making it mandatory for school children in that state to recite the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of the school day.
Rep. Hal Wick, a Republican from Sioux Falls, said the proposal would apply to all students in public and private schools in the state. His proposal was in response to a decision the day after Veterans Day by the Sioux Falls School Board not to require high school students to recite the pledge.
“To think the school board would do something like that the day after Veterans Day … it really disappointed me,” he said.
The original “Pledge of Allegiance” was written in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister and Christian Socialist and published to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus.
Most of us over 50 remember starting school every day looking at a flag in our homeroom and saying the Pledge. It was as standard as saying “here” when our name was called by the homeroom teacher.
It was a time when Americans didn’t give a second thought to displaying patriotism by saying: I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America….”
Making students stand up and say the pledge each morning is not a jingoistic act of American imperialism or a violation of a student’s rights, as some would argue. It’s simply a statement of patriotism.
Yet today, in our politically correct world, it’s almost a crime to require children to state the pledge — it often results in lawsuits and recrimination. Recently, a Florida teacher was suspended for making her middle school children do so.
There’s got to be a common-sense balance when teaching patriotism.
It’s still important for children to learn to respect and even love the liberty and freedoms afforded to American citizens. Reciting the pledge, learning the provisions of the Constitution and taking a basic civics course should be mandatory in public schools.
And because America is a nation of individual liberties, making kids say the Pledge should be tempered to respect a student’s right to not say it because of religious mandates, a belief in not displaying allegiance to anyone or any entity, or simply because they don’t feel like it.
That’s called respecting individual freedom.
So if they choose not to do so, they should still have to stand and listen, showing respect to the students who do recite it.
There’s always a danger in making patriotism and pledges compulsory.
This week is the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
For decades, history students were made to memorize Lincoln’s 270-plus-word message that commemorated the few days of battle that claimed almost as many American lives as the entire Vietnam war.
“The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here,” Lincoln said.
Because generations of history teachers taught those words, the world did remember in great detail what Lincoln said there.
The recitation of patriotic words and speeches captures the reverence of American patriotism.
But we must recognize the last few words of the Pledge as the most important too — “with liberty and justice for all.”
That means that while making it mandatory for students to learn and say the pledge, our laws should not require a dissenting child from saying it with the others too.
Loyalty should not be something forced on an American. It should be studied from the start of one’s education and participation in our society, whether it be a kindergartener or an immigrant seeking citizenship.
7 comments
Mike P
November 20, 2013 at 1:41 pm
Absolutely!!!! I could not agree more. I have also witnessed the blatant disregard and disrespect for the American flag over the years. I now live in Florida and my children have been telling me for quite a while that the pledge is not taken seriously in schools. As a matter of fact, teachers and students routinely talk over the pledge “taking advantage of that time to catch up on other business of the day”. I have complained to principals and county school boards to no avail. They simply say, “we have no control over the individual teachers and cannot make anyone participate”.
Even those who choose to say the pledge are ridiculed by other students and even teachers. This truly creates a lack of respect for our country and authority figures. It further isolates and erases the history of who we are as a nation. Those reminders are important so we do not forget what we have and what we have is not taken from us.
If I intended to strip a country of its freedoms, I’d make them believe they had to be taken for their own good… for their safely. I’d take away their reminders so, after a few generations, they would not know how much they lost.
Well spoken “leaders” can make you believe many things. Always remember to stay grounded and ask yourself, what are they trying to get me to believe and what is in it for them. Are my rights being diluted or outright removed?
We are continually being told by the local, state and federal leaders to shut up, back off and let us continue to manipulate public opinion until we get what we want.
Krista Maki
November 20, 2013 at 2:45 pm
Yes, I remember saying the pledge every morning in grade school. And it was a good thing.
On the other hand, we must at the same time instill in the students the duty to think for themselves. “My country right or wrong,” is a bridge too far. The Vietnam war, the Iraq war, the Korean war, the coup in Iran, coups in South America, Jim Crow. We must not go overboard with our teaching of Patriotism, to the point of losing the ability to analyze, and to see that it may be more patriotic to speak against the things going awry in order to put them right.
We cannot love the country without loving the people who populate it. We should not tolerate it when the nation acts to harm others in our nation or world.
Patrick Mickelson
November 20, 2013 at 7:46 pm
I agree with almost everything with the exception of a students right not to say the pledge. I am of the belief when in Rome do like the Romans !
Was our nation not designed with the idea of assimilation?
How can we be “One nation under God” if we are all allowed to pick and choose what we belief in about this nation. If we are divided we will fall. I know that some people are going to get on their high horse and say ” we all have the right to choose”, but do you honestly think our forefathers would have not wanted us to honor our flag? I for one will proudly say the pledge loud and clear and will encourage my kids to do so even if it becomes politically incorrect ,as it seems it may.
Intelligent Being
September 1, 2014 at 10:59 pm
Discovery of the Americas… by Columbus.
California.
I am disappoint.
Kelly
January 7, 2015 at 12:57 pm
1) How do you pledge allegiance to a flag? Constitution maybe, but to a flag, really?
2) Liberty and justice for all? I would love to see that too, but don’t think we are there yet. I think there are a lot of people out there who would disagree with that.
3) One nation under God. I am a devout Christian, so personally I am fine with that statement, but I don’t think we can force that on our entire population.
4) The rote aspect of the Pledge of Allegiance is ridiculous. Let’s teach kids the constitution. Do they even know what a Republic is?
Does anyone else see the “naziism” of this? Compare the pictures.
I am all for teaching patriotism and respecting those who have served, but how in the world does forcing the Pledge of allegiance accomplish this?
Comrade Squealer
February 22, 2015 at 7:45 pm
In my country we sing an anthem to show our patriotism and honour for our most glorious leader who toils so hard for us!
Friend of fatherless!
Fountain of happiness!
Lord of the swill-bucket!
Oh, how my soul is on
Fire when I gaze at thy
Calm and commanding eye,
Like the sun in the sky,
Comrade Napoleon!
Thou art the giver of
All that thy creatures love,
Full belly twice a day, clean straw to roll upon;
Every beast big and small
Sleeps at peace in his stall,
Thou watchest over all,
Comrade Napoleon!
Had I a sucking-pig,
Ere he had grown as big
Even as a pint bottle or as a rolling-pin,
He should have learned to be
Faithful and true to thee,
Yes, his first squeak should be
“Comrade Napoleon!”
ahjyjh
March 7, 2016 at 9:49 am
donald trump is stupid
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