Boy's Parents Want Teacher Fired for Sitting Son in Hall-Wont Pledge Allegiance to Flag

Lakewood Press Democrat ^ | January 8, 2003 | Ucilia Wang

[RAT Patrol]

If I were offended enough by the pledge to request to be excluded, I would be GLAD to stand outside the classroom. This just shows it isn't about respecting differences; it is about pushing a liberal agenda.

[Restorer]

I was commenting only on the Supreme Court decision cited, not on the VA law.

[GovernmentShrinker]

It likewise wasn't very smart to announce to the complaining parent that she doesn't care what the law is.

[FreeTally]

(love the tag-line.)

;-)

I came across this list of "tell me why" and "do you ever wonder" type questions. I try to change my tag line at least once a day with one of them.

[dasein64]

Exactly!!

[ewing]

Im surprised the parents arent pushing a civil suit against the school district.

[Teacher317]

LOL, if you want to assert that a child's Free Speech Rights trump a teacher's right to run an orderly classroom, then I want you to teach an inner-city school for a week... then let us know how much you'll get done by making the regular business of the classroom secondary to a classroom of 25 thirteen-year olds being allowed to speak whenever they think of something to say. ;^)

Of course the kids shouldn't be forced to recite The Pledge (which is rather ironic when it professes to support liberty... but then again, school attendance is compulsory... hmmm). This particular kid was being a disruptive jerk, and got appropriately punished for it. The rest is sensationalism generated by the parents and the reporter.

[WorkingClassFilth]

"the kid was trying to get those in the class who were reciting to stop.. during The Pledge."

Didn't see that the "disruptive" behavior occurred during the pledge. But, since the report does say...

"...Woodbury was disruptive and tried to incite other students not to say the pledge, according to Burke's written report."

My bad. Me wrong.

I'll endorse the action of the teacher - put the little jerk into janitor's closet for an hour or two. I'll bet jihad Johnny has some nice folks, eh?

[Teacher317]

I'll keep my eyes peeled for ya!

[earplug]

So its liberty and justice for all, If its for religious reasons. Kind of like being drafted to liberate others?
As the pledge was adopted after WWII and post FDR, big government. I guess its all ok if it echos conservative values.
The corruption of the masses to force complience with the power of the state.

[earplug]

So its liberty and justice for all, If its for religious reasons. Kind of like being drafted to liberate others?
As the pledge was adopted after WWII and post FDR, big government. I guess its all ok if it echos conservative values.
The corruption of the masses to force complience with the power of the state.

[GovernmentShrinker]

The kid won't PLEDGE to the flag of the US, but the parents will use the CONSTITUTION of the US to suit their needs?

I hardly see a conflict there, since the original intention of promulgating the Pledge, shortly after the Civil War, was to brainwash everyone into viewing the U.S. as one big homogenized entity happily existing under one big government, state sovereignty be d@mned.

[Restorer]

The Supreme Court in 1943 based its decision on the freedom of religion provision of the First Amendment. I think one could also make a good argument on the freedom of speech provision.

Freedom of speech also includes the right not to speak.

[Restorer]

I hardly see a conflict there, since the original intention of promulgating the Pledge, shortly after the Civil War, was to brainwash everyone into viewing the U.S. as one big homogenized entity happily existing under one big government, state sovereignty be d@mned.

The Pledge was written in 1892, not exactly "shortly after" the CW. It didn't take off big-time till the patriotic frenzy of our entry into WWI in 1917.

[sweetliberty]

"But History is a required class most places"

Only problem is that the version of history that is taught in many places any more is only liberal revisionist history. I am just so sick and tired of these whining losers running to court over every little perceived or contrived offense. Teachers should not have to fear for their jobs every time they have some minor disciplinary altercation with some snot-nosed punk. School administrators who cave to this kind tactic, or worse, encourage it, are as bad if not worse than those doing it.

[EBUCK]

California law requires students to participate in patriotic exercises daily, and saying the pledge meets that requirement. But the state Department of Education also has told school districts that saying the pledge is not mandatory.

Anyone know what law this is????

EBUCK

[thoughtomator]

He could always do what we did in school... make up our own words to it ;)

[Attillathehon]

The only thing this teacher did was throw the ACLU packet of material in the garbage.

Why was that wrong? Since when are students allowed to distribute their own materials during class?

[LouD]

I've been substitute teaching lateley, while between jobs. I have, on occasion, ran into a student who did not recite the pledge. Sometimes, this decision has an ideological basis, sometimes, it is laziness, and sometimes, it is because they are a foreign student: not an immigrant, but the child of someone here doing a short stint at corporate HQ before returning to their home country.

Obviously, I don't make foreign citizens, with no desire to become U.S. citizens, recite a pledge to the U.S. flag. For the lazy and the ideological, however, I tell them that not reciting the pledge is their choice, which I happen to disagree with - and I give them the reasons why. I try to engage them in debate on the issue, as in most cases, their antipathy toward their country is founded on ignorance, in some cases honestly acquired, and in some cases inculcated by mush-brained liberal parents. I've actually gotten a couple to rethink their position on the issue, and voluntarily stand up and recite the pledge.

However, in all cases, foreigners and citizens alike, they must stand and face the flag. That is a matter of common courtesy. After all, you wouldn't sit down if the anthem of another country were played at the Olympics, would you?

[GovernmentShrinker]

So it was a while after the Civil War. What's important is that it was penned and promoted by a longtime socialist activist, Francis Bellamy, who was very emphatic about the "one nation, indivisible" stuff. At the time he wrote and promulgated the pledge he was "a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association." The previous year, he'd been pushed out of the Baptist church where he was a minister, after years of preaching socialism from the pulpit. He had been publicly promoting socialism since at least 1876, when he delivered a commencement speech at his graduation from the University of Rochester.