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Should reciting the Pledge of Allegiance be mandatory in public schools?

Should reciting the Pledge be mandatory in public schools?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 14.8%
  • No

    Votes: 49 80.3%
  • Other

    Votes: 3 4.9%

  • Total voters
    61
I was going to **** all over the premise, but rivrrat handled it so nicely.

If you want to make it mandatory to be silent during the recitation of the pledge, that is acceptable. It is not acceptable to force minors to pledge anything to anyone, period.

And indeed, that has been the law of the land for over 40 years or so.
 
Absolutely not. Forcing recitation of a pledge is a violation of everything this nation was founded upon. We are not a bunch of mindless drones who are forced to pretend we care about this country, either we do or we do not, it's our choice and enforcing a bunch of empty words that really don't prove a thing is a complete waste of time.

It takes away from time we ought to be spending actually teaching our kids something useful. Like maybe the actual history of this nation.
 
Would you be okay with "under our Creator"?

Absolutely not. We live in a secular nation, there is no place for any god-talk anywhere in officially sanctioned state or federal business. Save it for Sundays in church.
 
Should it be mandatory that all public schools recite the Pledge?

No. I prefer to teach my kids active citizenship versus passively reciting a creed that most school children don't even understand.
 
Some public schools (like mine) still recite the pledge as a class in the mornings. Some do not.

Should it be mandatory that all public schools recite the Pledge?
Heck, No! I don't think reciting the Pledge makes anyone anymore patriotic.

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855-1931), a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850-1898). The original "Pledge of Allegiance" was published in the September 8 issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of America. The event was conceived and promoted by James B. Upham, a marketer for the magazine, in a campaign to encourage patriotism and the display of the American flag in public schools.


Pledge of Allegiance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
I think it should be a mandatory part of school, but that kids can opt out of saying it if they chose to. Can we force foreign exchange students to pledge allegiance to our flag? Should we force anyone to pledge allegiance?

In bold. That doesn't make it mandatory, if they can opt out.
 
I pledge allegiance to the mighty dollar and a one world government for which it stands. One world, under mammon, with liberty and justice for only the rich.
 
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I also find it interesting that this view is held by a lot of tea party activists who, at the exact same time, argue that we should be saving our guns, protesting the government, and actively rebelling against it)

It is not that interesting. It is what one would expected of an establishmentarian astroturf campaign.

What is odd are people talking about what the pledge "means" because I think if anyone gave it enough thought they'd realize this pledge is so antithetical to the idea of liberty and free thought that it would be more suitable to ban it from public schools than require it there.
 
Any country that has to force the young - well, anyone - to pledge allegiance before they can even comprehend what the words mean is not a country I want to be a part of. Pledging allegiance, to anything, should always be a voluntary act. If it's not a voluntary act, then it's a superficial, meaningless waste of breath and to me, a complete dishonor of what this country stands for and all the people who have died defending it. I can't think of a bigger slap in the face to every person who has died for this country than to allow it to become an authoritarian regime that forces its youth to recite an allegiance like drones.
I was going to reply with a "yes", until I read this. It really is odd that we are asking our kids, basically to take an oath, before they can truly agree to anything.

Perhaps the pledge would be much more meaningful if it was said for the first time at graduation ceremony from high school. It would be far more profound, then, really.
 
I think it should be said in Church. :lol:
 
It wasn't before it's creation, and they didn't add "Under God" until what, 1948? So - no. I don't believe it should be mandatory.
 
Why should it be under anything? They put that in much later.
 
Making it mandatory is one of the steps towards fascism.
 
Some public schools (like mine) still recite the pledge as a class in the mornings. Some do not.

Should it be mandatory that all public schools recite the Pledge?

As long as it remains our official pledge I believe that the schools should have it each morning.

I don't believe it should be mandatory for individual students to actually recite it though.
 
In bold. That doesn't make it mandatory, if they can opt out.

Its easy to read the OP as asking about it being mandatory for SCHOOLS to have it recited at the beginning of each class, not that individuals students must comply:

Some public schools (like mine) still recite the pledge as a class in the mornings. Some do not.

Should it be mandatory that all public schools recite the Pledge?

I belive it should be mandatory that all public schools recite the Pledge.

I do not believe it should be mandatory for any individual student to be forced to say it during the schools designated time to do the pledge.
 
Its easy to read the OP as asking about it being mandatory for SCHOOLS to have it recited at the beginning of each class, not that individuals students must comply:



I belive it should be mandatory that all public schools recite the Pledge.

I do not believe it should be mandatory for any individual student to be forced to say it during the schools designated time to do the pledge.

In bold. That would be my position.
 
It is indoctrination and worshipping of the state/party, which is fascism 101.
And also doesn't affect those not living in or citizens of this country.
 
i don't see anything wrong with it, as long as no-one is reprimanded for not saying it.
 
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