Because public schools were created, in part, to assimilate immigrants. |
+1 I'm about to start a next career in public school teaching. I look forward to educating my students on their civil rights including the right not to salute the flag every morning like a fascist robot. |
Check out Libs of TikTok if you want to see how bad teachers can get. |
Public schools were created, in the early 1600s in Massachusetts, for reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with immigrants. The history of public education in America is fascinating, I encourage folks to explore it because it really is one of the finest achievements of this nation. The pledge of allegiance was written in the late 1800s and over time it became the norm to say it in schools. At one point American schoolchildren did the Nazi salute - arm raised, hand flat - to Old Glory during the pledge, but when the Nazis came along and started doing that we stopped doing it here lol. There is no question there is a fascistic element to requiring schoolchildren to pledge to a flag every day, it's creepy. |
All anyone is obligated to do is be respectful of those who choose to say the pledge. If a teacher or student is standing or sitting quietly during the pledge, they are fulfilling that expectation. |
I may be in the minority thinking it’s good for most kids to at least know it, the meaning behind it, and perhaps recite it (should they choose to) a few times at least. The pledge isn’t a bad thing.
But after a while the pledge becomes a mindless activity, where little if any thought is put into it. After grade 6, it really should not be part of the school day. |
You should email the Baltimore Sun. The new ownership is after exactly this kind of story. |
Bleeding heart lib here and I agree 100% |
Wouldn’t it be better to teach older kids the meaning and the history behind it? Why have them do that before they have developed strong critical thinking skills? Also it is a bad thing for a lot of people; it’s pure indoctrination/propaganda, and the part about god thrown in there during the red scare just makes it that much worse. The fact that we are putting so much emphasis on the pledge but so many American kids (and adults) don’t know the difference between Washington state and Washington DC really irks me. We have high standards for propaganda but low standards for actual education about the United States. |
+1 I’m not a fan of it in school or anywhere for that matter. |
I think North Korea and China are the only other countries that have a pledge of allegiance. |
Actually, you and the 2nd poster woke Azhat are the ignorant ones. |
Actually very few countries have a pledge. The Philippines has one, possibly inspired by the American one since it was a US colony. I believe Singapore and India are the others. |
Our announcements are so horrible half of the time we don’t know it’s happening. They are either too soft or blaring loud. I will stand if I hear it but often don’t because it’s almost over by the time we realize it’s happening. They should cut it out of the day at this point. |
The Pledge of Allegiance is a US thing. I'm Canadian. Growing up we said the Lord's Prayer every morning. We sang our national anthem. We also sang God Save The Queen as well, but I don't remember if it was daily or just special occasions. The Lord's Prayer was discontinued at some point in the late 80's I think. Singing the anthem was seen as required whether you were Canadian or not. |