Kids are idiots. They know not what they do. Years from now he may well look back on what he did and kick himself for being a jerk.
The recital of the Pledge is a tradition, not the law. "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us." (Justice Robert H. Jackson, writing for the majority, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)).
I thought the same thing when I read about this. We had kids at our school that didn't do it because they were in a religion that it was forbidden for them to do so. If this kid does not respect his own country enough to stand up for 60 seconds its his loss. But he should enjoy the freedom not to do so.
But Ed, this is part and parcel of the same thing. It's difficult to make them all mind-numbed socialist robots when kids like this one are determined to be individuals. The school isn't defending patriotism, it's insisting on conformity.
Maybe we should encourage all of our kids to refuse to take the Pledge, since it's now apparently nothing more than a tool being used by our socialist schools to turn them into Obama Youth...
5 comments:
I agree with you.
Kids are idiots. They know not what they do. Years from now he may well look back on what he did and kick himself for being a jerk.
The recital of the Pledge is a tradition, not the law. "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us." (Justice Robert H. Jackson, writing for the majority, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)).
I thought the same thing when I read about this. We had kids at our school that didn't do it because they were in a religion that it was forbidden for them to do so. If this kid does not respect his own country enough to stand up for 60 seconds its his loss. But he should enjoy the freedom not to do so.
That is one of the least egregious things the schools do to our kids however.
Making them socialists is a little more appalling.
But Ed, this is part and parcel of the same thing. It's difficult to make them all mind-numbed socialist robots when kids like this one are determined to be individuals. The school isn't defending patriotism, it's insisting on conformity.
Maybe we should encourage all of our kids to refuse to take the Pledge, since it's now apparently nothing more than a tool being used by our socialist schools to turn them into Obama Youth...
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