Everything After - A 9.11 Youth Circle - I Pledge of Allegiance, to the Flag...

I Pledge of Allegiance, to the Flag...

This feature is taken from E.A.9.11, Group 5. See the entire discussion: What's with the pledge?.

a.j 05:44pm Apr 4, 2002 EST

My 4th period teacher forces me to stand up for the pledge of allegiance. She says that I don't have to say the pledge of allegiance but I have to stand. I think that this is violating some freedom of mine because I don't believe in what is being said (the part that says under God. . .). They say that America is diverse. IF America is diverse then they should remove the part that says, "under God. . " because there are many people who do not believe in God but believe in Buddha. . .Brahma. . .and other gods. Remove ". . under God. . ." and I won't mind saying the pledge.

Sergei

05:45am Apr 5, 2002 EST

They wanted to do a daily pledge in two of my classes but so few of the students were willing that the teachers gave it up. Plus they learned that the Supreme Court ruled that students can't be forced to stand up to salute the flag.

If your teacher insists everyone at least STAND for the American pledge, ask her if she'd require everyone around to stand up when the French national anthem was being played.

DrummerChick05

12:07pm Apr 7, 2002 EST

The day that everyone said the pledge at exactly the same time around the country (I believe it was on October 10th..) I was in English class when we did it.

Twelve people out of my class of nineteen said the pledge. That includes the teacher, me, and most of my friends.

I do not believe that we should be FORCED to do it. I really do not. But, this country gives me freedoms that in other countries I wouldn't have. If I was in China, right now, I wouldn't be alive. I'm the second child in my family, and I'm also a girl. Second children are usually killed or abandonded and many girls are killed or abandonded every year so that the family can try again for a boy, which in that country, will provide for them a lot better than a girl would.

I do not agree with a LOT of the things America has done. But I'm grateful for some of the things it's done. Because of America, my grandfather's family escaped Nazi Germany. Because of America, my friend's art teacher escaped the Ukraine.

Like I said before, I may not agree with A LOT of the things America has done. But I'm damn grateful for some of them. And if saying the pledge is a way of saying "thank you", then I'll say it. It doesn't mean I like the way our government is run.

When I say the pledge, it's saying thank you to the people who HAVE done stuff I agree with. It's saying "thank you" to Abraham Lincoln or FDR or Ronald Reagan (appointed first female Supreme Court judge---Sandra Day O'Connor).

But the fact remains that on that day, those seven people who refused to say it... their rights were respected. My teacher asked them why they wouldn't stand up and when they said "we don't want to." She just turned the other way, said the pledge and went back to teaching the class.

MY rights have not been violated by the government YET. I'm still allowed to express my opinions LOUD AND CLEAR. If I went outside and screamed at the top of my lungs that "GEORGE BUSH IS AN ASSHOLE!" or something else offensive, I'd probably get grounded by my parents for swearing, but I'd get away with it, legally.

America might not be perfect, but then again, who is?

Sergei

01:35pm Apr 10, 2002 EST

I remember that day. You could hear the sound of voices complaining audibly about it even before the teacher announced that The Hour had begun. A spitball hit the classroom flag and one boy even held a container of glue and announced he was glueing himself to his chair to avoid having to stand up, before the teacher led the Pledge Across America for our classroom. We talked a little bit about why all these kids didn't want to -- America was holding a war, America isn't really the free country that people say it was, you can't pledge allegiance to some state-drawn boundary lines, the flag was an "idol" (this is what one girl believed), you would be pledging allegiance to Ashcroft and Bush -- before the teacher led the pledge with three of us who really wanted to stand up and speak.