High school student suspended, reinstated after refusing to recite the Pledge

[Highly Selassie]

Sorry, I can't post a link to an article. Just search Google News and you'll probably find it.

Quinesha Garrett, an 18-year-old high school senior in Tennessee, was suspended from her day classes after refusing to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It seems like most opposition to the Pledge is based on the "under God" phrase. However, her refusal was based on religious convictions. She is a devout Christian who believes she cannot pledge her allegiance to anyone but God. The administration sent her to night school, claiming that they were accommodating her behavior and that it was not a form of punishment. She was reinstated to her normal classes after hiring a lawyer who informed the school of this reason. The right to refuse the Pledge is coded in Tennessee state law, as well as a 1943 Supreme Court ruling. I wonder how accommodating the school would have been if this student was an atheist who refused based on the "under God" phrase.

I grew up in the States. All through high school I never actually spoke the words of the Pledge, and neither did the majority of the students. Most still stood, but towards the end I stopped standing. My regular teachers never gave me any problems. One day, my morning class was in the school library, and I remained seated reading a book (Dead Souls, for what it's worth) while the Pledge was being broadcast over the PA. A librarian came over to me, pushed the book down and demanded that I stand. I just gazed at her with no expression on my face, and started reading again. I wasn't punished for this, which actually disappointed me slightly.

Has anyone else heard of this type of Pledge opposition? Does anyone else wonder what the reaction would have been if this student's refusal was based on atheism? Any other anecdotes about Pledge opposition?

 

[Spindrift]

I never said it because it just seems silly pledging allegiance to a piece of cloth. I know it says "and to the republic...", but that's an "and" so you are pledging to a cloth and your country. However, my protest was just to not say it, never did I not stand. To me, it wasn't really that important of a statement to make. I was quite the rebel, as long as it wasn't a hassle or drew any attention.

 

[billydkid]

We went through this crap back in 1969 when I was in highschool. It finally fell out that students didn't have to say the pledge if they didn't want to - or stand or anything - just like a human being should able to. It strikes me as incredibly bizarre that this same BS, the retro idiocy just never goes away. Personally, I believe the pledge is fundamentally UnAmerican. No just or sane country needs or requires any kind of pledge from it's inhabitants. And I want some idiot who invented the pledge deciding for me what form my expression of allegiance must take. Flags, pledges, vows and slogans - all that crap belongs in facist and socialist countries where it is all about conforming to the collective.

 

[jj]

In the present day, one almost wonders what kind of salute one should make while reciting this "pledge".

 

[Darth Rotor]

In the present day, one almost wonders what kind of salute one should make while reciting this "pledge".

If one wishes to testify to one's loyalty to the flag, a grab of the package might be appropriate. It would complement the very American baseball habit of constant package adjustment.

DR

(Oblique Ref to an essay on the male eggs, entitled "The Family Jewels" by Roy Blount Jr.)

 

[Safe-Keeper]

In the present day, one almost wonders what kind of salute one should make while reciting this "pledge".

In the present day, one should wonder why they say the Pledge in the first place, why they make kids say it, why it has to be renewed daily, why it has to contain a religious element, and what the flag has to do with it in the first place.

 

[Gravy]

If one wishes to testify to one's loyalty to the flag, a grab of the package might be appropriate. It would complement the very American baseball habit of constant package adjustment.

I think a new gesture is in order. It's rare to see anyone but catchers wearing a cup these days.

I'm always baffled when I hear that this pledge is being recited in high schools, and daily, no less. Where I grew up it didn't go beyond elementary school. If they had tried to make us recite it in junior high or high school we would have laughed our asses off.

 

[Highly Selassie]

In the present day, one should wonder why they say the Pledge in the first place, why they make kids say it, why it has to be renewed daily, why it has to contain a religious element, and what the flag has to do with it in the first place.

Even in elementary school I had the same questions. I used to think that the powers-that-be suspected us of pledging our allegiance to a country like China or Cuba after we went home from school. When I found out how and why the "under God" phrase was introduced into the Pledge, my childhood idea seemed surprisingly accurate.

 

[Darth Rotor]

I think a new gesture is in order. It's rare to see anyone but catchers wearing a cup these days.

I'm always baffled when I hear that this pledge is being recited in high schools, and daily, no less. Where I grew up it didn't go beyond elementary school. If they had tried to make us recite it in junior high or high school we would have laughed our asses off.

I wonder how many people in America are aware that the pledge is an artifact of the Reconstruction era? It's been a few years, but I read some essays linking the final adaptation of the Pledge as a carryover of the political sentiment that drove the Radical Reconstruction.

Loyalty issue(Wiki)

A loyalty issue emerged in the debates over the Wade-Davis Bill of 1864. Wade-Davis required voters to take the "Ironclad Oath," swearing that in the past they never had supported the Confederacy or been one of its soldiers. Lincoln ignored the past and asked voters to swear that in the future they would support the Union. The Radicals lost support following Lincoln's pocket veto, but they regained strength in the mode of vengeance that followed Lincoln's assassination in April 1865.

Some radical reconstruction in Texas.

The first critical step … was the registration of voters according to guidelines established by Congress and interpreted by Generals Sheridan and Griffin. The Reconstruction Acts called for registering all adult males, white and black, except those who had ever sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and then engaged in rebellion.… Sheridan interpreted these restrictions stringently, barring from registration not only all pre-1861 officials of state and local governments who had supported the Confederacy but also all city officeholders and even minor functionaries such as sextons of cemeteries.

Looks like what happened to Ba'athists in Iraq, doesn't it? An article I sent into NI Proceedings a while back, rejected, was entitled "Foibles of the Reconstruction." The topic was seeing Iraq post Saddam through the lens of the Reconstruction, post Civil War.

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) who wrote Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897). Bellamy's original "Pledge of Allegiance" was published in the September 8th 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, conceived by James B. Upham.

Bellamy's original Pledge read, "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to be stated in 15 seconds. He had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided they were too controversial since many people opposed equal rights for women and blacks. Bellamy said that the purpose of the pledge was to teach obedience to the state as a virtue and that the United States supports the flag.[citation needed]

After a proclamation by President Benjamin Harrison, the Pledge was first used in public schools on October 12, 1892 during Columbus Day observances. This date was also significant as it was the dedication day of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. Bellamy thought that the pledge itself and the involvement of children across the country would be a fine show of national solidarity.

In less than ten years, America became a recognized (imperial) power, so recognized by the imperial powers of Europe.

Not sure if that is correlation, coincidence, or simply the momentum of political history.

DR

 

[Gagglegnash]

Hi

In the present day, one almost wonders what kind of salute one should make while reciting this "pledge".

Well - Homeland Security did show great restraint and estimable sense in not actually naming themselves, "Geheime Staats-Polizei...."

 

[WildCat]

Where I grew up it didn't go beyond elementary school.

Same here, and even then we'd make up our own words.

 

[PAC]

We went through this crap back in 1969 when I was in highschool. It finally fell out that students didn't have to say the pledge if they didn't want to - or stand or anything - just like a human being should able to. It strikes me as incredibly bizarre that this same BS, the retro idiocy just never goes away. Personally, I believe the pledge is fundamentally UnAmerican. No just or sane country needs or requires any kind of pledge from it's inhabitants. And I want some idiot who invented the pledge deciding for me what form my expression of allegiance must take. Flags, pledges, vows and slogans - all that crap belongs in facist and socialist countries where it is all about conforming to the collective.

In high school, around '68 or '69, the assistant principal (a position always staffed by charming people) decided that he did not like the way one student acted during the pledge. He spent a good poortion of the day forcing this student to go from class to class reciting the pledge in front of each class.
He actually thought he was teaching us something positive about being an American!

 

[Fnord]

Amazing the brain-washing kids go through ... pledging allegiance ... reciting the rosary ... strapping on a bomb vest ... saying "Sieg Heil!" ... amazing and sad ... very, very sad ...

 

[Modified]

My brother had a great comment once: "I'm not pledging allegiance to the United States. If some other country makes me a better offer, I'm going."

 

[gnome]

If I'd had any balls in high school, when they said the Pledge I'd have remained seated and if anyone complained, I'd have said that the US already has my allegiance and I feel no need to announce it daily to my peers and teachers using someone else's words.

 

[CaptainManacles]

I didn't do it later in school. I didn't have any problems except with one substitute, who absolutely lost it. Humor insued.

 

[MarkCorrigan]

I fail to see the need for a pledge at all. If you want to be nationalistic on your own time fill your (slightly worrying) boots, but don't have a phrase crafted for the single purpose of showing off how patriotic you are when there's a perfectly good national anthem for that.

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

I had to do it more and more ending in middle school, but not at all in high school.

 

[Cylinder]

I fail to see the need for a pledge at all. If you want to be nationalistic on your own time fill your (slightly worrying) boots, but don't have a phrase crafted for the single purpose of showing off how patriotic you are when there's a perfectly good national anthem for that.

The Star Spangled Banner is nothing at all like the pledge. Neither are - at their heart - a patriotic pissing contest. The former recounts - first-hand - the naval bombardment of Ft. McHenry using a specific garrison flag as an allegory for a republic and its aspirations at the occasion of its coming of age. It does not require one necessarily to take sides and could be as inspiring to a British subject as Rule, Britannia! can be for this American citizen.

The Pledge, OTOH, does ask one to take sides. It's a loyalty oath to flag and country. I think reciting it in schools are a great way to teach citizenship. I can also understand how the phrase "under God" can be bothersome.

Their is no need, BTW, to worry much about our boots - the vast majority of them are doing quite well. Most of us are rightfully proud of our nation's heritage on the whole while at the same time striving to fulfill the founder's noble intents.

 

[MarkCorrigan]

The Star Spangled Banner is nothing at all like the pledge. Neither are - at their heart - a patriotic pissing contest. The former recounts - first-hand - the naval bombardment of Ft. McHenry using a specific garrison flag as an allegory for a republic and its aspirations at the occasion of its coming of age. It does not require one necessarily to take sides and could be as inspiring to a British subject as Rule, Britannia! can be for this American citizen.

Fair enough so. I was merely thinking that singing the national anthem is rather patriotic, don't you think? (Oh, and I may be getting the wrong end of the stick, but Rule Britannia isn't our anthem.)

The Pledge, OTOH, does ask one to take sides. It's a loyalty oath to flag and country. I think reciting it in schools are a great way to teach citizenship. I can also understand how the phrase "under God" can be bothersome.
.

I absolutely disagree. I think it's a terrible way to teach citizenship. I mean, even without the "under god" line (which I note you also think is a bother) it seems to me to be a terrible way to introduce children to citizenship. For one, I feel (just an opinion) that it is extremely nationalistic. I cannot think of a single liberal democracy other than the USA that has such a thing, but can think of a number of massively nationalistic nations that have similar things.

Personally, I find anything that promotes the concept that ones nation is, at heart, infallible to be a dreadful idea, and I pride myself on being unpatriotic to the core outside of sporting events. It seems to me (again, just an opinion) that being patriotic is somehow not only seen as a virtue, but as being a requirement for a citizen of the US. Anyone ot seen as patriotic is considered suspicious, as if they are going to start planting bombs on every bus and on every street lamp. Why? I don't love my country, I love bits of it. I LIKE my country, but I also like feta cheese. Should I swear to only support Feta cheese? Pledging allegiance to ANYTHING is dangerous in my book, and those who take the pledge (and any American institution, no matter how small) so much to heart they attempt to enforce patriotism is, to me, more dangerous than the surly kid who doesn't join in with the group.