i never really thought about it till today when a kid got in trouble for not standing up during the pledge...is it rite?? and what does it mean anywayz??
i never really got why it was a demand to get up and say the pledge....it was detention and going to the office if you didnt comply.....kinda reminds me of schoolkids living during the times of Stalin and Hitler..... but I remember there were some kids that were exempt from saying the pledge....namely jehova's witnesses. I didnt care to say the pledge....in my heart, i always felt german(i was born and raised there), an felt no loyalty to the US. I dont hate it, but my heart isnt here, ya know?
I think this issue has been decided in the courts.I believe it's illegal to MAKE a person stand up and recite it.Wish I knew more.
i don't say the pledge but i unfortunately do not have the guts as of yet to stay seated. i would just quit going to school if they forced me to say the pledge.
it's more of an age issue, it seems that students often get their rights walked on. In Colorado, voters in Estes Park recalled a council member who would not stand for teh plegde. I cover lots of civic meetings with pledges. Personally, I stand, hands behind my back and respectful of the fact that others wish to show this form of solidarity. I'm respectful in hopes that they will be respectful of my abstention. So far, so good, and only a couple people have asked about it. I simply say that I can't pledge allegience to a flag, when it is the Constitution I respect.
I remember getting in trouble as well. If I didn't stand I was sent to the principle's office. Does anyone know if pledging is still mandatory?
The Pledge was foisted upon us in the 1890's. Originally, schoolkids had to give the "Bellamy salute," or the Roman salute that was also used by the Nazis. In 1942, out of embarrassment, FDR changed the salute to the now-familiar hand-over-the-heart. I think the original salute has more of the spirit of the pledge...Seig Heil!
^^ and that is what gets lost in jingoism and the pledge debates. the point of the US is to NOT be compelled to agree, to have those freedoms, even as we shut them down, or miss connections of freedom of thought to freedom of speech (expression). As I have seen, the pendulum swings. we need a good centered bump!
I stand up but just don't recite it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being an American but I don't enjoy being reduced to a drone who is to be "kept in line" by reciting some mind-numbing group of words and essentially professing my loyalty. Plus, though I do believe in God I think it is foolish to have that phrase, "under God" in there, when the entire nation is certainly not in posession of such beliefs. I just think it is very robotic and it really does remind me of the whole "1984" telescreens and forced compliance thing.
because the flag was oringinally made by a woman, betsy ross, i feel we are supporting women's rights and women's liberation by reciting the pledge
i completely agree with gratefulvegan even tho i dont usually even stand when its being said ill politely leave the room to get a drink or sumthing and then return after its over but thats just me
