Pledge of Allegiance

[Lycanthrope]

There's no law but I've seen on TV schoolkids lined up between their desks, hands over hearts, pledging allegiance to their nations flag.
I wonder two things- I wonder how many times they recited that pledge before they really understood what the words mean and I wonder how many times the average American recites it by the time he's called an adult.

I've been a part of both public and private school systems in America, from kindergarten to graduate work at a state university. My personal experience is pretty much how you describe it - we were taught the pledge from the time we entered the education system, and we repeated it every morning without fail until high school graduation. There was never any in depth explanation as to what it meant, and for the longest time my childhood brain assumed it meant Americans really, really loved that flag (in the same sense of Trump hugging it like a simpleton).

The only exception I ever saw (8th grade) was a classmate who sat while we stood and recited it, based off a religious objection (Jehovah's Witness). We all thought she was a little weird for not joining in.