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Following September 11, many schools and school systems
are asking or insisting that teachers have their students recite the
Pledge of Allegiance. For those who wonder what their rights and
responsibilities are regarding the Pledge in their classroom, we provide
here the statements and resources collected by teacher Martha
Matlaw. Her research and the responses pre-dated September 11. Below
are some resources, followed by Martha Matlaw's original inquiry, sent to teachers on the Rethinking
Schools critical teaching list-serve, and teachers' responses.
Resources
Teaching
About the Pledge -- article by Bill Bigelow from Rethinking Schools
History of the Pledge
From American Social History
Project/History Matters
Frederick
Douglass’ speech on the 4th of July:
Court Ruling: Students cannot be required to say the pledge of allegiance.
West
Virginia v. Barnette
However some states are requiring that students be provided the
"opportunity" to say the pledge.
Original question sent to teachers on the
Rethinking Schools Critical Teaching List Serve:
I am collecting statements from various perspectives to
share with my students regarding the pledge of allegiance. My school
requires teachers to observe the ritual w/ their homeroom... I want my
students to think about their choice and formulate a position rather than
blindly go through the motions. Would any of you be willing to share
your thoughts? Here are my questions:
a) Do you recite the pledge of allegiance when asked to?
b) Why or why not? (What does it mean to you?)
Each response is followed by a brief description of the
respondent's racial and religious identity.
response
I am a critical educator currently teaching in the
central valley of California... I consistently abstain from the pledge of allegiance because
of my own religious, spiritual and political beliefs. When students
ask me why I do not join in in the pledge, I explain to them that I don't agree with pledging my allegiance when it means pledging to a flag and a
country who promotes war, hunger and a power structure that continually provides for the haves and not the have nots. I may go into further
discussion on several issues if the students suggest or the age level and time is appropriate. I do tell them the pledge makes me feel
uncomfortable and I choose to respectfully decline. My school does
not force us to partake, but several teachers promote the activity when we meet as a group in the morning. It is the school's policy to say the
pledge. I do not facilitate the activity in my own classroom... you
could say it is passive resistance. --white woman,
25 years of age, middle class
response
Your request cannot go unanswered because of my own
personal/professional experiences with the pledge of allegiance...
starting in elementary school (1950s) when "under God" was added
in response to McCarthy-ism. My father actually wrote a letter to the
school committee (shared with me last year) protesting it as in conflict
with separation of church/state and with our family's religious beliefs,
and we were told (by him) that we didn't have to say it. Ever since, when I have had to lead/say the pledge as a student
or teacher, I've simply remained silent during those words.
As a first year teacher of third grade students
(1969-70) I never led the pledge of allegiance until I was told by my principal (in response to
parent concern/complaint) that it was Massachusetts law to do so at least once/week. Then I put the words on the board and discussed them... when I
asked my class if they could think of anyone who did NOT have
"liberty and justice," their response was unanimous and personal... KIDS! That led
to more interesting discussion, although I don't remember the details. This
was in the middle of the Vietnam War and we also talked about the idea of
"allegiance" even if/when we disagree with decisions of our
government... later doing a unit of study on Vietnam history/culture. We eventually agreed that the pledge expressed a "hope" and a personal promise
to work toward ideals. I had a student lead the required weekly pledge...
except when we forgot! :)
That long-ago conversation with my third graders
actually helped ME articulate my conflicting thoughts/feelings about the pledge... and a
conversation with my co-teacher the following year, who's from Holland and
thought it was ridiculous! She felt, and I agree, that saying a
"pledge of allegiance" is more a sign of national insecurity than of pride!
Still, I say it when "expected" to do so as
an acknowledgement that growing up in this country/society has affected my ideas and ideals
(something I learned about by living and teaching overseas in Africa and Italy) and as a promise to work for justice as I "think globally, act
locally" in my daily life.
So...usually I pledge. I now no longer need to lead it,
thank goodness, but I join my school community during assemblies... still leaving out
"under God" of course! As far as I know, only one class in our
school says the pledge daily... although I was shocked last week when, out of the
blue, our principal came on our (new) intercom system and did so (something I've NEVER heard her do before)... haven't had an opportunity
to ask her about that yet!
My ancestry is primarily German... I think race is a
social construct rather than a valuable way to describe/sort people, especially when so
many U.S. families are multicultural. I do not practice/profess any formal
religion at this time, but was raised Unitarian. As to the other categories you're using to sort data, I'm female and middle
class
response
I have always felt that MAKING students recite the
pledge is wrong. Naturally, just having the pledge SAID in class, makes all feel as though they are SUPPOSED to, even if they are told it is optional (IMO). I think
(I could be wrong) that some more traditional teachers, send the message that it isn't really optional, if not in words. For starters, the pledge
includes "One nation, under God", and I find that must just be
horrible for students who don't BELIEVE in God. A friend of mine, a Quaker, (Jessie) tells me that in
her religion, taking an oath or pledge is not something they do. (If I understand
correctly, the thinking is that you are ALWAYS supposed to tell the truth,
and to say or promise something in such a way is to imply that this promise or statement is MORE the truth...). I never knew this, but it just
horrified me to think that there are Quaker children in class, who are being "asked" "requested", in some cases required (if
only subtly) to say the pledge.
I always said the pledge in school, because I always
did whatever any adult told me to. It seems to me, while I know that is not the reasoning
behind doing it, that the pledge seems to be saying "I won't speak
out against my country" no matter what they do, and that makes me uncomfortable.
I am a white middle class female, and consider myself a
liberal Christian. I have belonged to UU churches, am currently attending Quaker
meetings, but considering the UCC church to raise a family in. You could say I'm
non-denominational! ;-) Growing up, I must say, the pledge never meant much to me. I still feel that way. And hearing it in a school, as I
said, is offensive to me because of the mention of God, which is not something every student believes in.
response
I am not a teacher, although I do spend much of my time
in schools talking with kids about culture and human rights. The perspective I
share with you is one as an individual, not a teacher, just in case that makes a
difference to you.
When I was eight years old, I, on my own and seemingly for the first time,
heard the words "liberty and justice for all." To the
degree that an eight year old white middle class kid can know these things, I knew this
wasn't true. I decided at that moment to never say the pledge again.
I am in my forties and have never since recited it. One thing I did
change as I became an adult, I decided to stand as others recited it. I
felt that continuing to sit was disrespectful of others who chose to recite it.
My intent from the beginning regarded only my personal choice rather than judging others who chose to participate. There are many other
valuable and meaningful opportunities to challenge and impact their view of the
world - and this I do on a regular basis.
Not sure if this is helpful to you, just one person's
vivid memories from years ago. I would be very interested to hear what types of feedback
you're receiving.
I am female, Caucasian, Jewish - of European descent,
upper middle class.
response
I do not recite the pledge of allegiance. I remember
getting kicked out of a high school spirit assembly with a few friends because we refused to
recite it (1977). I find it really chilling to hear the monotonal sound of
voices reciting the pledge... it seems so mindless and nationalistic,
shades of the kind of mind-set which fed into the horrors of Nazism, the blind
faith in leaders who I have no trust in. Also, I don't know what is meant by "under one God". Does this mean people who are atheist,
agnostic, or pantheistic can't pledge or be included in the republic? I do like the
idea of pledging 'liberty and justice for all', but this seems so hypocritical given the current realities.
response
The question of the pledge is definitely one that has
caused controversy at our school, la escuela Fratney, a Milwaukee Public School. By state law
each school is supposed to recite it on Monday morning of each week.
Our site based council several years ago had a heated
debate about it. At the time several articulate Puerto Rican parents and staff argued that the
pledge was an affront to their nationality and personhood seeing that PR is still a colony (in their minds) of the USA. They raised such a
powerful argument we agreed that the pledge would not be broadcast over the PA
system, and that teachers were not going to be required to recite it with their kids (nor were they prohibited to do so either).
Recently in the discussion of multiculturalism at our
school the issue has been raised again.... that perhaps it is time to discuss the matter
again. So far we haven't...
I recount this history not because our school has done
a great job in dealing with the issue, but just to underscore the point that some
segments of our school population feel very strongly against saying the pledge, and in our school at least for the time being, that perspective
influenced others enough to decide to not participate in a commonly practice recitation...
I think one of the most powerful critiques of
celebrating patriotism is Frederick Douglass's famous July
4th speech... it's in various Douglass anthologies...
Take care and thanks for asking the question!
--white male
response
As an adult, I now decline to recite the pledge because
as a Quaker I believe that taking oaths is wrong. I still stand, because I don't
want to offend others for whom this is a sign of respect.
As a student I used to agonize about whether to speak,
because I thought I shouldn't recite any words I didn't fully understand. (Part of the
same skepticism where you don't sign anything without reading the fine print..)
The Quakers refuse to swear, because it implies that
truth-speaking and promise-keeping are exacted from people only by ceremony. In fact we
should be faithful all the time. Making a ritual out of putting your
hand over your heart (or on a Bible) suggests that you won't maintain your
integrity otherwise. We should mean what we say whenever we speak.
(It was Jesus who said "Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay.")
As a Quaker I've had to get exemptions from oaths just in applying for a passport, or in signing legal documents.
Beyond that, I feel it would be wrong of me to recite
what I don't believe. Allegiance means taking sides. I can't "pledge
allegiance" to a country, a flag, or any human enterprise.
For me the pledge is other people's words, from another
time. Beautiful and stirring as it is, the language hearkens back to an era when
patriotism was a virtue in itself, and when God was on "our"
side. I do prize the lines about unity, about our not being divided from each other.
Yet I can't stomach what sounds like the righteousness of it. EVERY nation is "under God."
Like most Quakers I resist the idea of group recitation
or scripted speech anyway. It doesn't seem sincere. How can everyone have
the same understanding of these words? How can we all believe exactly the
same thing at the same moment? Requiring us to recite pledges together
only displays these words as a common goal; it doesn't do anything to make the
words come true.
Should schools be responsible for teaching students
national loyalty, in any case? What are our priorities?
I'm a Quaker, a woman from an upper-middle-class
background, of mixed Eurpoean ancestry (mostly Causasian; some Jewish and some native
American).
Response
You are engaging in an interesting critical thinking
exercise that holds up some of our institutions, practices, and beliefs for inspection.
It seems that you have many of the answers that you need. When was it
started? Who wrote it? When were the words "under God"
added and why? You have raised appropriate questions about "one nation ... with
liberty and justice for ALL."
So what is your purpose. Do you want to
"prove" that using the words "under God" in school is a violation of the separation powers in
the Constitution? I suspect that has already been litigated and is no more
offensive to the Constitution than the words "In God We Trust"
that
appears on most of our money. But I don't have any proof of this.
A serious scholar can find this at any good law library.
Do you want to prove that our nation is not
"one" or that it does not provide "liberty and justice for all"? That is not too
much different from our Declaration of Independence which asserts that a self-evident
truth of human existence is the idea that ALL men (and women) are born equal and are endowed with certain inalienable rights. Yet we know
that goal of equality, even in those areas of "life, liberty, and
the pursuit
of happiness" is elusive. Still both of these expressions are
powerful statements of ideals and goals toward which we can always push our nation.
The pledge is not so much an affirmation that we have achieved
"liberty and justice," but an affirmation that it is the fundamental value on
which
our nation is founded. The fact that we fall short of establishing
this fact among us, should not prevent us from expressing our belief in its
importance.
Do I say the pledge? Yes, of course. I say it as
one expression of many of our national values and as one way that we can create a common
cultural experience among all Americans regardless ethnic or racial differences. It is difficult for me to imagine that anyone, no
matter how
deprived of rights or liberty, could argue against the goal and the value expressed. Indeed, the expression itself gives strong impetus to
drive the society to achieve that goal -- to demand that a society live up to
the promises of its pledge. Taking it from the other point of view, how
would we like it to have a "pledge" that provides for no faith
in God and no aspiration toward "liberty and justice for all"? We say
the pledge at the beginning of most public school events. We do not
take class time to do the pledge.
response
Sometimes I will recite the pledge, if I am in a group
of other people that are doing it. I never say the line: One nation, under God,
because I don't believe in God, or that a deity should be in any way associated with
our nation.
It means very little to me. I am willing to fight
for ideals and people that mean something to me, but this nation is so big and diverse.
Although politically it is one country, there seems to be very little togetherness. Except for the television shows we watch and the chain
restaurants we go to, there is very little Americans have in common with
each other. I will not pledge my allegiance to anything blindly.
When I do say the pledge of allegiance, it is merely so that I appear to fit in.
I usually mumble it half-heartedly and feel bad about the fact that I am so ungrateful for all the privileges I have living here in this country.
I am a white, middle class male that comes from an
upper class Episcopalian family that have slowly dwindled down to nothing. My family
is dying and I am at the end of their line. While I am interested in
my heritage, I have little interest in carrying out their traditions or in
their values. I see my ancestors as greedy, self-serving individuals
who over time became fat, lazy and complacent. So, while I acknowledge
my heritage and my supposed role in our society, I usually do whatever I can
to undermine this. I rarely feel like I belong to a group of people.
response
I feel pretty lucky to live in the US. I do
sometimes leave out the parts about "liberty and justice for all." I think to
refuse to recite it suggests a level of discontent with our place in the world that I just
don't feel. I can't imagine there's many places in the world where
one
would have the overall level of prosperity and freedom we have here in the
US.
Now, that doesn't mean that everything is hunky-dory.
I skip the parts listed above because I don't think they're true; there clearly is
not 'liberty and justice for all,' at least not equitably. So I think to
claim that there is just for the sake of the pledge seems hypocritical.
I also don't believe in forcing people to recite it.
If you choose to be discontented, that's OK--that's part of the freedom of the US. I'm
not so thrilled with refusing because of apathy (i.e. can't be bothered to stand
up and say it) but if you have some honest objection to the pledge and have thought it through, by all means sit it out. Sort of like a
conscientious objector, I guess.
Finally, the part about "one nation, under
God" gives me pause as well. Whose God, I wonder? I suppose that the ideals of the founders of
our nation are not so far from the ideals of most religions--the problem lies
more in twisting wording to suit human purpose later on. I don't
believe that 'democratic' movements against affirmative action or homosexual
marriage are truly American any more than I believe 'religious' movements hat encourage violence at women's health clinics are truly Christian. BUT
to assume that everyone is under the same God seems mightily egotistical.
--White/N. European/Male/Middle Class/Christian (UCC)
response
Yes, I do pledge. I think, to be honest, that
it's a bit of a knee jerk reaction--always have done it! Also, my parents taught me to
"Go with the flow" when younger and, therefore, I never questioned it until much
later
in life (after the Vietnam War).
--white, upper middle class female
response
I usually don't. I remember having problems with the
pledge even as a kid. While I think that in the balance the flag represents more good than
evil, to pledge to it always seemed a bit mindless and fascistic.
--white, Jewish, middle class, middle aged male.
response
Since my daughter Reiko was a day old she has been
subjected to my on-going analysis of social justice issues. So the flag business is
nothing new. I am rabidly anti-religious so pledging/praying is very
foreign to her. She was in Girl Scouts for a year and hated the
conformity and allegiance to the organization.
More specific to your question, I talked to Reiko about
what the U.S. does in other countries and that the U.S. flag is a symbol of imperialism
and oppression. Although she is 11, I can talk to her about Dole,
United
Fruit, etc, and what they do in Central America. I explain that the people are poor because of Dole. She is a normal kid who would rather talk
about boys, clothes, and music, but I give her practical examples.
When we go the October fundraiser every year for International Health Service
here in St. Cloud, I explain my position. My position is that when
we see the slide show about how generous Dole is to provide transportation for
all the volunteer nurses and doctors in Honduras, we need to know that
Dole is there to make money for themselves and their donation of transportation is
like Reiko giving up a penny or two out of her piggy bank so she can get
hundreds of dollars back. (Have no idea is the math is even close but she gets the picture.) I then explain that the U.S. government helps Dole
build roads and other things they need through U.S. A.I.D. The U.S.
flag is the sign that this will happen to them.
Reiko just ends up rolling her eyes about the flag,
homophobic comments, gender inequities in the classroom, and other things she observes every
day in her school. VERY unenlightened parents and teachers.
One other example. Reiko is half Japanese (I am a
widow. My husband was third generation Japanese American.) The U.S. gov't locked up his
family
during WWII. She sure gets that one. --white,
Jewish, middle class
response
YES, I pledge when asked to.
I really like the phrase "liberty and justice for
all" and I think that pledges work like prayers. If you say it enough, you may really come
to believe it. If every school child grows up to believe they are
pledged to upholding the principle of liberty and justice for all.......... that can
be very powerful (some might say subversive)
--Racially: white
Ethnically: white Gender: Female
Class: Educated elite Religion: none
response
I am not currently assigned to a classroom but I can
bring myself back to
the same dilemma I put myself in when I had to do the pledge with my 4th
graders for 4 years. So does that count? This was now 6 years ago since I
did that but last year while covering for classes being an assistant
principal, I continued to participate in the pledge routine.
In my role as assistant principal I felt I had no
choice to participate
in front of them because especially with say, kindergarteners and 1st
graders, they were watching every move and so was the teacher. Without
having an opportunity to talk to them about why I may or may not, it
wasn't appropriate. As a 4th grade teacher, however, I did address the
issue with the students so that it wasn't a mindless operation. We
discussed it as a class and then I left it up to the tables of students
who for one week had the morning exercise routine to lead us in. Sometimes
groups of students did include the pledge and sometimes they did. I would
say most of the time they did out of pure ritual.
--white woman
response
No, I don’t recite the pledge when asked. I have a
real problem with the
" liberty and justice for all." Knowing that the pledge
was written when
" all" did not mean African Americans, Native Americans, Asian
Americans,
Women and others, I am conflicted to confirm through recitation that
"
false ideal". However, I do stand still when the Star Spangled Banner
is
played because the entire school stands still. But again it's the "
land
of the free and home of the brave" type statements that concern me.
-- African American female, middle class
response
Each year, before school starts for my children, I make
an appointment to meet with their teachers. On my agenda are particular concerns
related to
being Native American, including special holidays we take, problematic holidays that are institutionalized (Thanksgiving, Columbus Day, etc.),
stereotypes, and the Pledge.
I ask them if they do the Pledge of Allegiance
(all have said, "No" as
of today) and then explain that I expect my children to stand and honor
the flag, but they are not to say the Pledge. I explain that
the Pledge
of Allegiance was written in 1892 as a tribute to Columbus, a man
who
personally participated in and ordered many crimes against our direct
ancestors the Arawak and Taino people. The "under God"
part was added by
the boy scouts and we don't follow that kind of religion nor support an
organization which actively puts down gays, lesbians, and bisexuals.
The
"liberty and justice for all" part may be an "ideal",
but we won't pledge
to it until it is seriously undertaken. My Native children do know
how to
honor a flag and the veterans of war, which they do almost weekly during
the summer at every PowWow. Our people have fought in every war that
ever occurred on this land. My children can sing a Traditional
Flag Song
in Native American vocables, instead. --Arawak woman, middle class
response
I am a white male. I struggle with the pledge of
allegiance for several
reasons. For one, what am I dedicating my allegiance to-a world
power
that oppressions people, and pollutes the environment? I have a hard
time
with that one. For liberty-is this for everyone? and justice
for all-the
data doesn't reconcile itself with this statement. Indivisible-we
have
such a stratified society, where is the indivisibility? One
nation-doesn't feel this way to me. Under God-whose god?
So, I put my hand on my heart, hope for something
better, and stand
silently. I appreciate the opportunity your questions gave me to think
about the
meaning of this and why I don't generally do it. Also, I admire your
agenda and hope it brings up some good questions and critical thinking in
your
students. Here are my answers (sorry if they're too long, or jargony,
or
skeptical):
response
I recite selective words--e.g. "I pledge
allegiance" to the values of "liberty and justice for all" or I don't do it.
The short answer is I don't believe in pledging or
promising something I'm not mighty sure I can keep. Or, in other words, I don't believe
in it. The longer answer is:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of
America, and to the republic for which it stands... means: I believe in and will commit to
the nation, to the ideas and values of the nation, to the country as it currently is (and perhaps has been historically). Perhaps at the
extreme
it means I would fight for (and perhaps kill or die for) the nation.
I can't really say this because the nation, as an entity, has done and continues to do so many oppressive things. And while I might fight
for the people here (e.g. my family) and for the ideals or for some of the
ideals, I don't know if that's what most people mean by the nation--e.g..
I don't think I (as I currently am and believe) would have fought for Desert
Storm or Vietnam regardless of whether the Nation said so.
I believe in the stated ideals of the USA--e.g..
liberty, justice,
equality. I just don't think we've reached them. And I think
the way
they are defined by the "nation" has been and continues to be
the way they
are defined by a relatively select view with a particular background and
power. And I have difficulty pledging allegiance to a nation that
has
disregarded its own laws (i.e. the Constitution) in a way that led to my
direct family and ancestors being locked up and denied their "basic
rights." What if this were to happen again--would my pledging
allegiance
mean I would have to allow it to happen and not fight against the
government or the "nation's" decision?
Finally, the pledge reminds me of the
loyalty questionnaire given in
camp and this just turns my stomach. These are the personal reasons.
From
a more general standpoint, I don't think we should ever require the pledge
unless we allow anyone who might have to say it to claim citizenship or
protected rights from the nation and the nation's government. Why
should
we require that an individual pledge allegiance if we are denying them or
their family work status or immigration acceptance or if we might ship
them out if we don't like them or their country of origin (again, echoes
of
the camp).
...one nation under God, indivisible...
Whose God? who gets to define God? And why
is the language "God" and
not Goddess, or Buddha (an inherent contradiction, I think) or the big
blue sky? By saying these words, I imply an acceptance of God.
Language
is powerful--"God" is a particular historical contextual idea of
a higher
power that is connected to structures, institutions, and ideologies that
have been and continue to be quite oppressive. I don't believe in
this
"God" and to use the language, to me, reifies the power and the
idea.
The idea of one nation and indivisible, to me, has too
much possibility
of meaning to be pledging allegiance to the idea of sameness, that we will
all think and believe the same way and be the same way. And to
attach the
idea of this particular God with the indivisibility concept seems to mean
that we will all be a PARTICULAR way, believing in a PARTICULAR God that
protects us as long as we think "right."
At my most skeptical, this means to me a White straight
capitalistic
European-values-based patriarchal nation under a White, Judeo-Christian
God with little room for any kind of difference, appreciation of other
voices, or true equality which contradicts the last words:
...with liberty and justice for all.
I like this. I just don't think it really
happens. And I wonder who
gets to define "liberty" and ":justice" and
"all," because historically
"all" has meant all straight White people, or all straight White
men and
the liberty and justice given to those who were not was quite differently
defined--something I think is still true (e.g. do gay and lesbian folks
have the liberty to marry who they love?)
I identify myself as a multiracial Japanese European
American. I am a
citizen of the U.S. I am racially mixed--yellow and white (although
I
don't IDENTIFY this way and am probably picking nits in terms of making an
explicit distinction between ethnicity and the bogus concept of race).
I
am a woman (and, as an aside, a feminist). I am upper middle class
now
and in my immediate background, although my parents' class background was
working class and/or working poor. I was brought up Northern Baptist
but
currently don't claim any organized religious affiliation, although I do
have my own spiritual beliefs.
response
Thanks for all the comments and leads regarding the Pledge of Allegiance that appeared last month. My rather belated "two cents worth."
From my perspective, besides the historical considerations (when, why and how it
was done), there are three other problems: 1) the question of separation of church and state ("one nation under God"); 2) there ain't
"liberty and justice for all"; and 3) and in my opinion, the most important:
every time someone says they Pledge they are unconsciously (or consciously) perpetuating the genocide against Native Americans (sorry
to put it so strongly).
BY TREATY RIGHTS we are NOT "one nation!" There are many
"Native American" nations within this nation. Some even have their own
passports and are recognized internationally. Some persons may say that this is
ridiculous or "nitpicking," but it is another example of how the
"super structure" of culture, education, media, etc. creates a "playing
field" where we are NOT even aware of how we perpetuate stereotypes, and in
fact injustices. Imagine the difference it would make if we said something like "many nations in one country?" Our students (and
all those at events where it is recited) would ask "what does that
mean" and would need to LEARN about the Treaties (that have been repeatedly
violated) and LEARN about the history of Native peoples in this country and LEARN the differences between a "tribe" and a
"nation." I don't know all I should about this (what the different nations are, what makes
a nation different from a tribe, what the exact international legal and political status of
Native nations is, etc.), which shows my own
"lack of understanding!" An additional point. My son didn't want to say the Pledge in 8th Grade
and high school. I contacted the ACLU, which told me that no student could be forced to say the Pledge. He ended up either sitting in his
seat or going outside the room while the Pledge was being said, usually accompanied with some sort of "lecture" about how
"unpatriotic" he was--which further showed the hypocrisy of "liberty...for all.")
This was in New Jersey and 8 years ago. Different States may have different
laws. (white male--wasp professional. Trace "American heritage"
back to1640. From England. School is 80% white, upper mc. You can help kids
decipher "coding.")
response
No I do not recite the pledge....never did with my
classes when I was a teacher and did not request that my teachers did this with classes when I
was a principal (however, it was problematic with some parents). I objected mainly due to the reference to "god"....
--white, Sicilian, female who
is has no religious affiliation....
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