Did your high school have the recitation of the Pledge of Allegience?

[Joe Biden 2020]

only on Mondays.  We were required to say it.

You can't be required. Anyone can sue the school over it and they wouldn't last 5 minutes in court.

That is correct, and good thing.  As much as I love the pledge, I don't want anyone to be forced to do something they don't want to do or feel right doing.  Same way with my Christian faith.  I don't want any kid or any body to be held hostage and be told "you will pledge allegiance to this flag, or else."  What good is saying the pledge of allegiance if it doesn't come from the heart, if the person doesn't mean it.

[Ban my account ffs!]

*YOU* can't be required... but hte schools can.  In fact, in our fit of Republican feel-good politics, Minnesota passed such a law.  I don't know if people actually do it... I graduated before the whole Michele Bachmann *gays are going to hell and we have to name this road after Ronald Reagan, OMG.. i *LOVE* George W. Bush* frenzy...

We said it every morning in elementary school until 4th grade, then we started again in 5th grade.  I remember a kid in my 2nd grade class who refused to say the pledge because he was "not patriotic"... and another kid that never came to school when we had holiday parties (halloween, christmas, valentines day).. because his family wasn't religious...

And the school can't really do anything about it.

[Gabu]

It doesn't prove anything, I just do it because I am proud to be an American and a Christian (hence, the under God).  I try to recite the pledge of allegiance on my own every now and then, as well as sing the National Anthem and other patriotic songs, such as America the Beautiful, My Country Tis of Thee, Battle Hymn of the Republic, God Bless the USA, God Bless America (sometimes I combine the last two), all the songs of the 5 branches of the military (Navy, Air Force, Army, Marine Corp, Coast Guard), and others.

If you truly mean what you're saying when you recite it, more power to you, but I don't get people who think that you become patriotic from saying a memorized phrase when told to, or that you aren't patriotic if you don't.  You're patriotic if you have a corresponding state of mind, not if you simply go through reflexive motions every day.

[Joe Biden 2020]

It doesn't prove anything, I just do it because I am proud to be an American and a Christian (hence, the under God).  I try to recite the pledge of allegiance on my own every now and then, as well as sing the National Anthem and other patriotic songs, such as America the Beautiful, My Country Tis of Thee, Battle Hymn of the Republic, God Bless the USA, God Bless America (sometimes I combine the last two), all the songs of the 5 branches of the military (Navy, Air Force, Army, Marine Corp, Coast Guard), and others.

If you truly mean what you're saying when you recite it, more power to you, but I don't get people who think that you become patriotic from saying a memorized phrase when told to, or that you aren't patriotic if you don't.  You're patriotic if you have a corresponding state of mind, not if you simply go through reflexive motions every day.

You must have skipped this part of the conversation, especially my last post --

only on Mondays.  We were required to say it.

You can't be required. Anyone can sue the school over it and they wouldn't last 5 minutes in court.

That is correct, and good thing.  As much as I love the pledge, I don't want anyone to be forced to do something they don't want to do or feel right doing.  Same way with my Christian faith.  I don't want any kid or any body to be held hostage and be told "you will pledge allegiance to this flag, or else."  What good is saying the pledge of allegiance if it doesn't come from the heart, if the person doesn't mean it.

[memphis]

Not in high school, but we did in elementary school. It seems kind of silly and fascist to have kids who are too young to understand the words and concepts parrotting it every day, but it's not THAT big of deal. I'd have rather spent the time discussing, at an age appropriate level, what America is all about and why we're fortunate to live here.

[Gabu]

You must have skipped this part of the conversation, especially my last post --

only on Mondays.  We were required to say it.

You can't be required. Anyone can sue the school over it and they wouldn't last 5 minutes in court.

That is correct, and good thing.  As much as I love the pledge, I don't want anyone to be forced to do something they don't want to do or feel right doing.  Same way with my Christian faith.  I don't want any kid or any body to be held hostage and be told "you will pledge allegiance to this flag, or else."  What good is saying the pledge of allegiance if it doesn't come from the heart, if the person doesn't mean it.

Sorry, I didn't mean "people" as in "you".

[Joe Biden 2020]

You must have skipped this part of the conversation, especially my last post --

only on Mondays.  We were required to say it.

You can't be required. Anyone can sue the school over it and they wouldn't last 5 minutes in court.

That is correct, and good thing.  As much as I love the pledge, I don't want anyone to be forced to do something they don't want to do or feel right doing.  Same way with my Christian faith.  I don't want any kid or any body to be held hostage and be told "you will pledge allegiance to this flag, or else."  What good is saying the pledge of allegiance if it doesn't come from the heart, if the person doesn't mean it.

Sorry, I didn't mean "people" as in "you".

Hey, you're cool.  By saying what I did, I don't judge anyone's "patrioticness" (new word) by whether they say the pledge or not, or if they sing those songs are not.  Its the same thing as determining if one's a Christian or not.  Its not for me to judge whether they are or not, thats between themselves and God.  Being patriotic is between them and their country.

[Ebowed]

Yes, in high school and middle school there was encouraged/ theoretically mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence.

Students who didn't want to say it (myself included) would still say it, or at least mumble something similar sounding, but not put their hand on their heart, but keep their hands at their sides.  Students who were really serious about not saying it (almost always Jehovah's Witnesses) would just respectfully stand while being silent.

In elementary school, there was mandatory recitation, as well as mandatory viewing of a music video flashing patriotic images while the American anthem played.

After 9/11, my school rounded us up in the cafeteria and we remained silent while "God Bless the USA" played over the intercom.  Students were encouraged to pray or reflect.

[© tweed]

yes, but I don't recite it, salute the flag, stand, etc.  some teachers care, some don't.  if they bother me about it I print out and hand them the majority opinion of WV Board v. Barnette and they leave me alone.

[Friz]

Yes, but I didn't necessarily say it.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Yes.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

It would be funny if they did.

[Hatman 🍁]

Recording of "O Canada" every morning. When my parents were in school, they'd play "God Save the Queen"

[Tender Branson]

No.

[CPT MikeyMike]

Yes - even though high school and keep in mind, I went to school in Massachusetts.

[Boris]

if they bother me about it I print out and hand them the majority opinion of WV Board v. Barnette and they leave me alone.

FF

I always stand, but never put my hand on my heart or actually recite the words. Although the pledge is complete bullsh**t, my primary reason for not saying it is laziness/apathy at 720 AM.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Unfortunately, I cannot remember, as its been 7 years since the start of my senior year (2000-2001), but I would lean to saying no, even though I live in the heart of the Bible Belt.  I wish and hope we did.  Everytime I did say or do say the Pledge, I always accent and say with pride "One Nation, Under GOD, with liberty and justice for all"

YEAH!  You show them heathen liberals how a string of words prove that you're the best American there is.

---

Obviously I'm not in the US, but my HS does have a recording or O Canada every  first period and you need to stand up etc.

You fascist bloodsucking Canadian.

[Јas]

It would be funny if they did.

Yep.

I must say I find the idea of having all these students say the Pledge of Allegiance everyday rather bizarre.

[Ban my account ffs!]

It was never required in elementary school, but we said it.  We never sang the national anthem though.  Instead, we sang songs like "The cat came back" and "An Austrian went yodeling" or "This pretty planet"

After 9/11, the choir got together with the marching band and we formed an American flag on the football field and sang "God Bless America" that week during the football game and had a moment of silence for the victims.  There was also a moment of silence during the 1 year anniversary.

Classes pretty much ceased on 9/11... but they also did the day Paul Wellstone died and all the TVs played news coverage of it.

[© tweed]

if they bother me about it I print out and hand them the majority opinion of WV Board v. Barnette and they leave me alone.

FF

I always stand, but never put my hand on my heart or actually recite the words. Although the pledge is complete bullsh**t, my primary reason for not saying it is laziness/apathy at 720 AM.

the amazing thing is, my teacher this year 1st period doesn't care or compel us to stand or recite the pledge, and not one student does.  which shows "patriotism" is only practiced when it's forced on people.

[Gustaf]

Of course not. That's only private schools, because they're evil. And private.

[Cubby]

I'm surprised it wasn't required for more people here. My school district did it from 2nd Grade to 12th Grade. And I live in a liberal state. Everyone mumbled it, no one cared about it b/c it was forced.

Its ironic what BushOklahoma said above, because I did exactly the opposite. In my senior year, I got kind of rebellious, and I used to say "not under god" in a louder voice. Usually, the people near me would turn around with a confused look on their face. A couple times I didn't stand but the teachers would get mad at me, so I couldn't do that too often.

Part of the reason I started acting that way, was that we had a German exchange student in High School who never could understand why we did the pledge each day. He said the whole idea of it was "fascist". That comment really had an impact on me. I remember thinking, if a German kid thinks we're doing something fascist, is something wrong going on?

I'm not an atheist, I just want the words "under God" removed from the pledge, since they weren't there originally, but were added by Republican Congressmen in 1954 due to Cold War politics. I was very glad when the San Francisco Court ruled the phrase unconstitutional a few years ago. The rest of the pledge is fine, its just those 2 words that bother me.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Even at a liberal school in a liberal city in a liberal state, the answer was yes. A large fraction of the people who appeared to be saying the pledge were actually saying a parody of the pledge.

[Stranger in a strange land]

We had the pledge of alliegence and the Texas Pledge every morning. Of course you weren't required to recite either. I would always say the pledge of alliegence, including the under god part (though without special emphasis) because I agree with the sentiment that it expresses and I believe that we should all try to make our nation the best it can be. I never said the Texas pledge though. It was just some silly random thing they dug up from the 1920s.

[AkSaber]

I was homeschooled in junior and high school, but no, we did not recite the Pledge of Allegiance. In my elementary school we recited it every morning.