Pennsylvania must have a lot of dumbass legislators - and a real
shortage of ones who show any intelligence at all. In the past
week, a bill was passed
unanimously to force all students to recite the pledge.
Because not allowing students to sit out the pledge was determined as early as 1943 (at the height of patriotic fervor for World War II, no less!) to be unconstitutional, legislators decided to allow students with objections to saying the pledge to sit or stand silently while their classmates promise to worship the flag and talk about the nation, under God.
One catch: if you want to sit out, they tell your parents.
I'm sure many of the readers here know how much this would discourage some people from voicing their objections. Many students do not want their parents to know about their lack of Judeo-Christian religion or lack of belief in what America is doing today. If you're an atheist raised in a Christian, Republican household, it won't be a very fun day when the principal calls home to tell mom and dad about your religious objection to saying the Pledge.
Normally I'd attribute this to Septembereleventhitis, but the truth is, this sort of thing happened long before we had to worry about the "terrorist threat."
I was lucky enough to be raised in a household where everyone was allowed to make their own choices about religion. Most kids I know weren't. They were expected to go to church with their parents and believe what their parents believed. Those who questioned their faith kept quiet about it at home until long after they had moved out. These students would be essentially forced to make a statement they did not believe, day after day.
Forcing students to say the Pledge against their wills will not encourage patriotism. Indeed, forcing them to say it makes it invalid. What happens to "liberty...for all" when you can't refuse to make an ideological statement in support of your government? By forcing it to be said, you change it from a patriotic statement to a droning chant with no meaning.
Indeed, though, that's what the Pledge was originally made mandatory to be. Though it had been around since the late 1800's(and was created as an anti-immigrant screed), it was not mandatory in classrooms across the US until the 1930's - when American legislators saw that children in Germany were reciting a pledge to their nation, all in unison. They looked so neat and orderly that we just HAD to try that out! But even after learning the lesson of "Naziism bad," American students continued to recite the Pledge, complete with "under God" after McCarthy decided to root out all those damned atheist commies.
One wonders how many of America's legislators - and indeed, how many of America's children - know where the pledge comes from.
One wonders how many of those legislators would care.
Because not allowing students to sit out the pledge was determined as early as 1943 (at the height of patriotic fervor for World War II, no less!) to be unconstitutional, legislators decided to allow students with objections to saying the pledge to sit or stand silently while their classmates promise to worship the flag and talk about the nation, under God.
One catch: if you want to sit out, they tell your parents.
I'm sure many of the readers here know how much this would discourage some people from voicing their objections. Many students do not want their parents to know about their lack of Judeo-Christian religion or lack of belief in what America is doing today. If you're an atheist raised in a Christian, Republican household, it won't be a very fun day when the principal calls home to tell mom and dad about your religious objection to saying the Pledge.
Normally I'd attribute this to Septembereleventhitis, but the truth is, this sort of thing happened long before we had to worry about the "terrorist threat."
I was lucky enough to be raised in a household where everyone was allowed to make their own choices about religion. Most kids I know weren't. They were expected to go to church with their parents and believe what their parents believed. Those who questioned their faith kept quiet about it at home until long after they had moved out. These students would be essentially forced to make a statement they did not believe, day after day.
Forcing students to say the Pledge against their wills will not encourage patriotism. Indeed, forcing them to say it makes it invalid. What happens to "liberty...for all" when you can't refuse to make an ideological statement in support of your government? By forcing it to be said, you change it from a patriotic statement to a droning chant with no meaning.
Indeed, though, that's what the Pledge was originally made mandatory to be. Though it had been around since the late 1800's(and was created as an anti-immigrant screed), it was not mandatory in classrooms across the US until the 1930's - when American legislators saw that children in Germany were reciting a pledge to their nation, all in unison. They looked so neat and orderly that we just HAD to try that out! But even after learning the lesson of "Naziism bad," American students continued to recite the Pledge, complete with "under God" after McCarthy decided to root out all those damned atheist commies.
One wonders how many of America's legislators - and indeed, how many of America's children - know where the pledge comes from.
One wonders how many of those legislators would care.
