Would like to remind the class that saying the Pledge of Allegiance is not required and you, as a student, cannot be punished for it according to the Supreme Court and also Common Sense. What's the point of forcing children to swear an oath to a country that infringes on one of the rights it promised to protect, IE, that of Free Speech? Technically, I as a teacher, also cannot be penalized for refusing to say the Pledge, though there are less formal ways I can be discouraged from that course of action. Personally, I've always had really mixed feelings about the Pledge. On the one hand, I DO love my country, and there is something nice about everyone coming together at the beginning of the day, starting with a sense of community... On the other hand, it makes everyone sound like drones and that always rubs me all kinds of poorly. For similar reasons, I also really dislike when teachers do call and response questions because a) it isn't effective at demonstrating what students actually know, only what the few loud-enough ones do, there are always some that just don't answer and those are the ones you should have been trying to reach more anyway, and b) again, it's very Let's Be Good Little Automatons which is the opposite of what I want for my class. I want to encourage/inspire students to make their country something WORTHY of allegiance, not psychologically trick them into admiring it uncritically. That's very much putting the cart before the horse. Likewise, while I want to tell the kids 'This is the community we should have in the classroom,' it is better to create the environment for that community to develop on its own, organically. The students get more ownership, they feel empowered and they can see how possible it is to make their space better, hopefully carrying that into the future. Bangarang.
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