Pledge of Allegiance

I'm not sure where to pose this question, but it's been nagging at me all day.

Today I volunteered in my son's elementary school (in the US), and was shocked at the formality and intensity involved in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I was sitting on the floor in the hallway with another volunteer, who jumped up and insisted - quite harshly - that the stragglers stop dead in their tracks, hush, and recite the pledge as well. Honestly, I didn't even realize that my 5-year-old knew the words.

Am I overreacting? I'm interested in getting a more international viewpoint on this, hence posting this question on this forum.

I never thought about it at all as a kid. I had a few teachers who were a bit anal about it. But as an adult now, I find it a bit OTT. And I think my husband will NOT be impressed.

I really hope this doesn't offend, but I find the whole pledge thing a bit weird, and slightly sinister.

Vicky

DB doesn't get it and thinks it's a bit like mental programing. I find it frustrating as it interrupts the morning (I kind of like not being in a classroom anymore because no kids around I can get away with not saying it). I'd rather not say it. I think there are more ways to support pride in country than saying the pledge. We always just have our Jehovah's Witnesses stand, but not pledge. I also think the moment of silence is a waste because the kids don't really understand what you are supposed to do during that time. I would teach it, but I don't think many used it the right way. I don't remember every saying the pledge when I was living in TN. There was a student-lead prayer circle every morning, though, for people who wanted to participate.

I never gave it a second thought when I was growing up, just stood up and recited it. Now, however, I do find it kind of weird to think about. It seems very Cold War-era.

I always found the "under God" thing to be a bit odd and I also understand that there are many good reasons for having kids recite it, but after a certain age, when kids start to understand the idea of patriotism, forcing the recitation kinda loses its meaning.

Forcing adults to recite (not to mention, recite to some random standard set by a PTA busybody) is just plain rude.

I stopped reciting it in middle school. I just stood.

I know as a student I never took it seriously, and often recited whatever was the current silly version of the Pledge (elementary aged minds, and all).  I think for most children it's just one of those things they have to do every day, and I'm willing to bet most don't think much about what they're saying.

Personally, I find the whole thing completely pointless and not a little ridiculous.

I stopped reciting it in middle school. I just stood.

Huh.  It was never incorporated into junior or senior high for me.  Only elementary school.

I stopped saying it for a while as a kid (which was a pretty rebel thing to do in 1966). I stood up and didn't make a fuss or anything, but when I realized pledge meant promise, I thought I'd better be sure I meant it before I said the words. Eventually, I decided I did mean it, so that was okay.

Americans are jumped up about symbol and ritual because we are a disparate people. E pluribus unum and all that. We don't have centuries of shared history or a shared gene pool or a state religion or any of the things that traditionally bind nations together. Instead, we share adherence to some basic ideas, and symbols like the flag and the pledge are ways we reassure each other we really are on board with the whole "we the people" thing.

I can understand how it looks creepy to people who believe nationalism is the fast track to fascism, but the US does need a bit of glue to hold together properly.

I always found the "under God" thing to be a bit odd and I also understand that there are many good reasons for having kids recite it, ...

I would have thought that the "under God" thing would have been the most disturbing part for me - but in retrospect, it was the intense patriotism from the adults that weirded me out the most. I had never considered that there are two different issues here: the religious one and the patriotic one.

..the US does need a bit of glue to hold together properly.

I agree with this, but the Pledge is full of incredibly difficult words that little people cannot even begin to understand. It's pointless at this age! Or do you mean that saying the Pledge is mostly for the adults?

Like AN said, I think they only have to say it in elementary school (in my state, anyway) - no older.

I could be mixing up late elementary school with middle school. It was a shared building, which is slightly unusual. But I'm still leaning towards having had to do it thru 8th grade. S, this would have been the early 80s in Howard Co Maryland.

I wonder what the reaction would be if you told the teachers you wanted to opt your kids out of it...

I always treated the pledge in school as just one of those things and never thought much of it.  As an adult, though, I do think it's weird and unnecessary to have children say it every day!  It certainly didn't teach me anything (except the words to the pledge, of course!)

Texas has a separate pledge for their flag that we had to say after the regular Pledge of Allegiance- "Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible." (That was it when I was in school although Google tells me they added "one state under God" to it in 2007!  Sigh.)

My school district growing up only did the pledge in the primary school grades K-5...I have no recollection doing it after during grades 6-12.

Like a lot of you, we said it in elementary school every morning and never gave the words a second thought. But, unlike Stoatula, once I was old enough to understand that it was a real pledge, a promise, I couldn't condone it and it was definitely not OK.

although Google tells me they added "one state under God" to it in 2007!  Sigh.)

In 2007!??! That's awful. 

I had a friend in elementary school whose parents exempted her from saying the pledge because of the "under God" bit.  She just sat quietly at her desk while the rest of us said it.  At the time, I really didn't understand what the big deal was, and why she couldn't just stand up with the rest of us.  In high school, we were supposed to recite it every Friday morning.  I used to stand but not say anything; by that point it was more the idea of everyone standing the same way, looking the same direction, and saying the same words that unnerved me.  I didn't like pep rallies either, for the same reason.  I am not a fan of saying the pledge in school, as others have pointed out, children don't really understand it, and daily recital certainly doesn't make them grow up to be more patriotic adults.