5 ms·

What's the pledge ritual? Seems like something reinforced via the education system? Please enlighten those of us outside the US.

• tlrobinson 13y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance
• notatoad 13y ago
  Every morning, every child is forced to stand up, place their hand over their heart, face the flag, and recite the words "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."
  • jlgreco 13y ago
    And for some additional perspective, "under God" was added in the 50s to distinguish us from those godless communists.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance#Addition_of_.22under_God.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance#Addition_o... The pledge is unarguably a political tool.
  • munin 13y ago
    you aren't forced, you have a choice. many choose not to.
    • jlgreco 13y ago
      In many schools the only way to opt-out without receiving significant grief for doing so is to claim a religious exemption to pledging to things. I saw kids receive perpetually refilling detentions for refusing to say the pledge, though at the time I found it weird that they would refuse.
    • ataggart 13y ago
      Five year olds do not have the capacity to understand such choices, thus should not be compelled into making them.
    • kinghajj 13y ago
      Don't generalize. I had a few brushes with the administrations in middle and high school because I refused to stand for the pledge. Whenever I was forced to stand, I would look the other way in protest. Luckily the high school eventually just dropped the morning pledge altogether.
  • mc32 13y ago
    In my school, one had the option of remaining silent, a few people would opt --I even did once in a while, for kicks, no one gave me any flak. That being said, it's trivial compared to the conditioning they do in Japanese schools. I.e. all the loudspeaker commands throughout school and the environment. On, on a positive note, at least it's to a country (ideals) rather than a Queen.
    • EllaMentry 13y ago
      As a Brit I take some offense to your throwaway comment. What you fail to understand is that the Queen (or monarchy) also represents the ideals of the country. They are a binding force, that tie us to our past and our future. They hold very little power and have to endure much responsibility (mentoring politicians, representing the country abroad, upholding the values and behavior expected of them) and suffer much inconvenience (media intrusion). It is also very rare for a pledge of allegiance of any kind in the UK especially in schools (I understand it happens at citizenship ceremonies and in certain public office positions such MPs) - the idea of school children pledging blind allegiance to an entity is pretty horrid in my opinion.
      • jlgreco 13y ago
        So basically the Queen is like a flag. And to be clear, the problem in America is not the flag, but rather the pledge to it. With no daily pledges to the Queen, I definitely don't see a parallel problem.
      • foobarbazqux 13y ago
        > They hold very little power and have to endure much responsibility (mentoring politicians, representing the country abroad, upholding the values and behavior expected of them) and suffer much inconvenience (media intrusion). The royal family is fabulously wealthy and enjoys much celebrity. I wouldn't call that very little power. They might not be able to tell parliament what to do anymore, but it's more power than you or I will ever know. The responsibility and inconvenience, while not zero, seem like a small price to pay for privileges granted by royal blood. They're like A-list Hollywood actors, except there's almost zero ability to get into the family on the basis of merit. Marriage perhaps.
  • namank 13y ago
    I largely view this as indoctrination. In Canada, we sing (or used to; been out of school for some time) the national anthem at the start of each day. I think it's the same for most countries. I wonder how something as explicit as a pledge of allegiance compares to the national anthem in terms of the effect it has on a child's values.