it is now a law in NC that you have to say the pledge of allegiance. the "under god" part is optional, however they don't tell the kids that... and they all mindlessley drone on with this every day no matter what they think or what their families try to teach them at home. My daughter is pretty openminded so we try to teach her about everything from Christianity to Buddhism. Once she is old enough she will find her own way. Everytime we turn around someone is brainwashing her that "When it thunders, Angels are bowling" and telling her "JESUS LIVES IN ALL OUR HEARTS". It is not that we don't want her to beleive in God and Jesus, but we don't want it shoved down her throat.. so once she is old enough and understands enough she can find her own way and own spirituality, or not... if she beleives in nothing I can't tell her she is wrong!! what annoys me the most, the school did not tell anyone about this and just asked for flags (not specifically the American flag) and made the kids do this without even sending home a letter. "The last change in the Pledge of Allegiance occurred on June 14 (Flag Day), 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved adding the words "under God"."
yeah that is such crap. i know in my hometown this law has been passed as well. sun prairie wisconsin. such crap i cannot beleive that it is "law" to say the pledge. just makes me want to homeschool my kids even more.
I pledge Allegiance to the flag Of the United States of America And to the Republic for which it stands One nation, Under God, indivisible With liberty and Justice for all.
My concern is endoctrinating children to a nationalistic viewpoint before they even know the meaning of the words. I don't want my daughter to mindlessly pledge her allegiance to anything, especially when she doesn't know if she's pledging her allegiance to causes not her own, ideals that offend her, or a government that doesn't reciprocate that allegiance. The "under God" aside, my problem with this is purely political, not religious. People could say "Under Allah" "under Gaia", "under Buddha" whatnot.
Funky, read the bill closely. Colorado did this and it still allows students who do not wish to say the pledge to slip into the hall. Of course that's like putting a yellow star on them (to continue the thought above), and it isn't like the teacher will announce that they can leave, but it could be an option. I suggest that your child stand, hands to the side silently and respectfully. I've gotten away with that for almost 40 years! I chose US citizenship (I was raised here) and one of the main reasons is that I would not have to swear oaths (such as to Elizabeth). I value that. afterthought... I cannot recall if the law passed here. I do remember a challenge as it was thought to compel speech, which is read as a violation of the First Amendment. Compelling speech is read as just as dangerous as silencing it.
For years, I have just stood silently when the pledge is recited. Even when I was a Girl Scout Leader, I never actually said the pledge. My daughter does say it, sometimes. I never told her to or told her not to, so it is completely her choice. When she asked me why I did not say the pledge, I told her it was my choice not to, just like it is her choice. I have noticed that sometimes she says it, sometimes she doesn't. If you just stand quietly, no one usually notices.
we had written a letter but we decided not to, i dont want her to be singled out by the teacher or principal because of us... i had to complain about her bus driver 5 times, and now the bus driver is a huge bitch
wow, that's pathetic. We had the same kinda thing here, where in the mornings, they would play the anthom (sp?) over the intercom and we all had to stand up beside our chairs with our hands on our hearts. I'm not as opposed to the Canadian government as I am to the American, but it's still kinda the same thing. We're actually studying Schindler's List and a few other WW2 things in English, and I was going to say what Kasten said. Kids are so impressionable that nearly anything taught to them in school sticks with them for life. Hell, I'm still trying to get over some shit I was taught in school when I was a kid. It's really scary.
That's what I did when we were supposed to say the lord's prayer in elementary. Admittedly I started that way because I didn't know what the words were (swapped schools after gr 2, and again after gr 5, it was the grades 3 and 4's school that did the lord's prayer thing), and just stuck with it because, well, I'm not Christian.
At the school Sage goes to, and also the High School Lennon attends and my two older dd's attended, an announcement is now made each morning. "Those who wish may stand and say the Pledge." Some kids do it, some don't. I let my kids make up their own minds, after discussing it with Bear and I. All my kids who have been in HS have gone through periods where they chose not to say it, usually starting in Middle School. Sage does it, because she doesn't mind, and seems to like the chant. (She's in 1st grade.) There are two Muslim children in her class who choose not to. They don't go out in the hall, they can if they want, but they choose to stay in class and sit quietly, and my kids have said that no one has ever given any one a hard time for either choice in the last few years. With one exception, Sunshine was in HS, It was not long after 9/11 and she a some of her freinds decided that in addition to hating the Jocks "Pep Rally" they were forced to go to (how come they aren't forced to go to a Rally for the Chess Team is what I would like to know? the kids said.) they were not going to say the Pledge. One of the Principals' narc squad came over.........and the white kids were simply sneered at, the two Miiddle Eastern kids and the one African Ameican young man were TAKEN OUT of the autotorium. Sunshine was livid, she was yelling, "If you are going to take them, take all of us!" She and the other 3 white kids tried to follow and were threatened by the "narcs" that walk around the school. Several parents called the school that evening, and the kids wrote a letter to the school newspaper (of course, mentioning the relevent fact that 9/11 should not be an excuse to take more rights from us.). After that, no one was ever given a hard time about their choices, as far as I know.
I knew aboutn the 'under God' thing, it was basically added to insinuate moral superiority over the communists. Patrotism to that calibre makes me twitchy, the whole 'them and us' mentality of it. Which seems rather ironic for a nation carved from the melting pot of immigration. To indocrinate the masses with it is just repulsive. The flag is a piece of cloth, the country is a hunk of dirt, everything else is pure arbitary ideology. If I did choose to live in America I still wouldn't say the pledge. I don't particualy endorse the ideology behind it, and though not a patriot by standard definition, I couldn't bring myself to [metaphorically] reject my ancestoral lands [by default]. As it is pledging allegence is a totally alien concept here, and I'm quite grateful for that.
you know, if the pledge talked about the rivers and deserts, trees and mountains, centers of vibrant culture and learning, I'd be down with it. If I were pledging respect not allegience per se) to the Constitution, I'd be down with that. but the flag? I don't think so.
