School Board Still Grappling with 'Pledge' Issue
A school board in western Minnesota is still torn as to whether its students should be forced to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, reports the AP.
Officials at Glyndon's Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton school—located just east of Moorhead—suspended three eighth graders earlier this month for refusing to pledge their commitment to a red, white, and blue pennant.
The pennant in question is known colloquially as “the American Flag,” which features 13 horizontal red and white stripes, with a star-spangled blue blotch in the upper corner. The Flag is intended to evoke emotions of cohesiveness and pride-in-geographic-proximity, and is often displayed publicly to ward off the twin demons of Independent Judgment and Rational Thought. Sometimes referred to as “Old Glory” or “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the Flag is believed to magically transmit strength and support to American battalions and U.S.-commissioned mercenary armies currently fighting in killing fields across the globe, especially when coupled with a yellow ribbon.
The Pledge itself is usually delivered in a perfunctory monotone by disinterested schoolchildren. The Pledge’s aim is to foster obedience to both the Flag and the nation-state symbolized therein.
At a meeting Tuesday, the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton school board voted 3-3 on the measure. The gridlock is expected to be broken at the next meeting, June 19, when all seven members will be present. The ACLU says it will consider a lawsuit should the requirement make its way into the student handbook.
Below is a verbatim transcription of the quasi-prayer students would be obliged to recite each morning:
“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.”
7 comment(s) / Post a Comment
Are we north, or south, of the Mason Dixon line?
Posted On: Thursday, May. 29 2008 @ 7:49PMWhile I agree that forced conformity amongst public school children is an offensive course to pursue, dangerous to a free society, such mockery and degradation of a national symbol that means so much to so many is an equally offensive gesture.
Matt Snyders, while it is obvious that to you the flag and the pledge are tools of the established ruling class, do not discount that a sense of true patriotism can be reached through rational thought and reason.
To pledge allegiance to the Republic, to our Republic, doesn’t mean that you endorse or even agree with the policies of the current administration, but rather that you work toward making it a better, a stronger Republic in whatever capacity that you see fit.
The issue here is free speech, the right to Pledge or to abstain, and the fact that this matter is receiving serious consideration is part of what makes this country great. To resort to demeaning the side of the argument you don’t agree with shares the arrogance embodied throughout Bush’s tenure in the White House.
Besides Matt, its slightly ridiculous if not a little ironic to read such a scathing rant against the establishment in a Village Voice publication.
The issue here is free speech, the right to Pledge or to abstain, and the fact that this matter is receiving serious consideration is part of what makes this country great.
The fact that this matter is receiving serious consideration is actually a smudge on the greatness of our country. Any school board member fit to serve should realize that the measure isn't just illegal, it's stupid.
The pledge can, as you say, have a lot of symbolic significance for some people. But even if it were ethical to force that symbolic significance on middle-schoolers, you're not gonna do it by making them stand up at seven-thirty in the morning while someone drones at them over a loudspeaker.
Posted On: Friday, May. 30 2008 @ 12:26PMWhile I use the term "fascism" facetiously in my comments, in this case it smacks of "big stick" just a tad. Any kind of forced salute; whether it be a hand to your heart, a pounding of your Roman Centurion chest (or Klingon?), or an arm straight out, it is fascism to REQUIRE it. It is NOT if it is voluntary. Requiring blind obedience through some sort of cadence or act is just plain fascistic; anyway you try to spin it.
Posted On: Friday, May. 30 2008 @ 6:25PMYou have a civil religion when you make the flag sacred and pray to it. I don't want to worship nationalism (or a flag) so I tell my children to stay seated and imagine this is what everyone is mumbling:
I pledge hell's legions to the flag
of the united state of hysteria
and 2 the public 4 witches stand
one nation (ohmygod) invisible
where liberty and justice fall.
[If you think this homophone is funny you get the 1st Amemdment. If you are offended and angry then you must be a fascist who doesn't believe in religious freedom :)]
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