No Pledge of Allegiance

[CSM]

School Officials in Mass. Town Won't Let Students Recite Pledge of Allegiance
By Todd Starnes

Published June 29, 2010

When Sean Harrington entered his freshman year at Arlington High School, he noticed something peculiar: There were no American flags in the classrooms, and no one recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

So Harrington enlisted the aid of his fellow students, and now, three years later, they have succeeded in getting flags installed in the classrooms. But the pledge still will not be recited.

The Arlington, Mass., school committee has rejected the 17-year-old's request to allow students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance, because some educators are concerned that it would be hard to find teachers willing to recite it, according to a report in the Arlington Patch.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/29/ma-school-officials-wont-let-students-recite-pledge-allegiance/

I wonder how long that would hold up if the government pulled their funding? They need to relocate Mass. and place it inside CA.

[Kathianne]

When it became the norm to curtail the teaching of history, the door was open to such nonsense. Those who have a clue to how public education was formed and the purpose of such know better:

http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/ord17857.html


THE LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785 AND NORTHWEST ORDINANCE OF 1787

During colonial times, schooling was left up to each of the colonies individually. With the many different religions and ways of life, schooling was difficult to maintain and centralize. The New England Colonies focused on compulsory public maintainence (1). They wanted all capable children to attend school to be educated to become good citizens. The Middle Colonies policies were that of parochial education (2). Schools were primarily for educating the children with powerful minds to become ministers, priests, or hold good offices. The Southern Colonies, on the other hand, didnt really have much in the line of compulsory education because of the ruralness of these areas. Most education in the south consisted of apprenticeships and the like.

In an effort to consolidate schools and make education mandatory, Congress enacted the Land Ordinance of 1785. This ordinance set aside what was known as Section Sixteen in every township in the new Western Territory for the maintenance of public schools. It also allotted section number 29 for the purpose of religion and no more than two townships for a University. The separation of church and state was visible by now with the two entities being in different areas. Public schools were organized to corral the best minds for training for public leadership.

Two years later came the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. This ordinance provided land in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions for settlement. (It eventually broke into five states: Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Illinois). Of particular interest is Article 3 of the ordinance, which reads in part:

Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good
government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the
means of education shall forever be encouraged.

The point of this document is that education is necessary to become a good citizen and to have a strong government. Children will be encouraged to go to school, however religion is not specifically to be part of the curriculum. Schools then began to form everywhere over the next one-hundred plus years. Instead of township appointed teachers, they were subsidized to an extent by the government, and the rest by state taxes. Schools began teaching more that just religion, reading, and spelling. Sciences were part of the new curriculum. Thus, the federal government was able to create a public school system furnished to all children, especially in the new and ever growing West.
References

1. Encyclopedia of American History, Vol. 2, pp. 395-96.

2. ditto #1.

Prepared by Kevin VanZant

While religion was mentioned, it was not mandated. Schooling however was.

[Sweetchuck]

I saw this on the net earlier today. Is this school in the minority where they don't recite the Pledge?

[Kathianne]

I saw this on the net earlier today. Is this school in the minority where they don't recite the Pledge?
I can only speak to schools I've taught in and those my kids attended. They all say the pledge, most often on speaker in the morning after announcements.

[Sweetchuck]

I can only speak to schools I've taught in and those my kids attended. They all say the pledge, most often on speaker in the morning after announcements.

I don't know what the stats are, but I'm guessing this school is in the vast minority in this case. I'm not sure why a school would choose to not recite the Pledge.

I belong to a few private organizations and we recite the Pledge before any of our formal meetings and I question the values of institutions, especially public institutions where it's been a tradition to recite the Pledge.

[Kathianne]

I don't know what the stats are, but I'm guessing this school is in the vast minority in this case. I'm not sure why a school would choose to not recite the Pledge.

I belong to a few private organizations and we recite the Pledge before any of our formal meetings and I question the values of institutions, especially public institutions where it's been a tradition to recite the Pledge.

Indeed. No one is checking to see if you say it or not. I think people should stand, if not out of respect of the flag, than the company they're keeping.

[Binky]

I find it appalling that there is so little respect for our flag, the allegience and what they stand for.

And it just goes to show that the country has become infested with liberal vermin.....:eek:

[SassyLady]

I imagine it's the "one nation under God" that gives them the basis for banning it at the school.

[DragonStryk72]

I think it is something that the school is trying so hard not to offend anyone, that they're throwing out the baby with the bathwater. I'd understand for different reasonings, but because you can't find teachers willing to recite it? you only need one person and a P.A., that's just bullshit. They could just use the original version that didn't have the "under God" part of it.

Let me say that I do not believe we should be reciting it by rote in schools every day, and the reason is pretty reasonable: Because by the time we're old enough to understand what we're saying, the pledge is on the same level as brushing our teeth or combing our hair, we just do it with little real thought or emotion behind it. As well, we only started doing the pledge every day in school during the Red Scare days, cause we were oh so afriad of the commies.

Now, on the other hand, there was an oath that I got a tremendous amount of emotion and reverence out of me:

I, Sean McTiernan, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.