3 suspended for not standing for Pledge of Allegiance

What a cretinous ritual.

Can someone tell me what the PoA is good for?

The PoA shows patriotism, and most people have forgotten that. If they dont want to stand up, then i guess that is there problem. They shouldnt get in trouble for it, i went to school with people like that and they only did it for attention.

But if you dont like America, then simply put, just leave!

You shouldn't be forced to stand.

Mandatory things like this certainly don't 'show patriotism'. Forcing an action isn't going to do any good.

I pledge my allegiance to one single nation under god. Love just one nation, and the whole we divide? Hell no! America is the BEST and if you don't like it you can take your beliefs elsewhere!!!

It's simple. You stand and say,
"I pledge allegiance to the Earth, a planet in the body of the universe...and to it's inhabitants for which I stand. One planet amongst the infinite, with humility and kindness for all."
Then, you sit down.
See? Simple.

Wow what ethnocentric comments. The PoA goes against everything our founding fathers believed in when they wrote out the constitution. It was adopted in the early 20th century and the words under god were added no more than 60 years ago.
This is an outrage and I hope the ACLU wins.

I love America, and nothing will change that. We may do a lot of stupid things, but most of them there is good intentions behind it. They may not always show, but they are still there.

but back on subject, they shouldnt be suspended, they shouldnt even get in trouble. but i dont respect the kids for what they did.

I fail to see how forcing patriotism on someone makes them more patriotic. What would they gain by suspeding the students? If that had happened to me, I think I'd have been laughing too hard to defend myself.

Very Sad.

One should stand if only and simply out of respect for the country and the flag as a minimum. If the school requires you to stand, then stand.

He wasn't being told lies or disinformation. He wasn't being forced to make an oath to a god he didn't worship. He was only required to stand with the rest of the class.

Students should practice activism outside of school hours.

"The PoA shows patriotism"

OK. And why in the world do people want to show their patriotism? What is that good for?

Look at me. I'm just showing what I feel. Can you see it? Damn it I want other people to see what I feel because if they don't know what I feel then something horrible will happen.

Would you tell me just exactly what would happen if you didn't show your patriotism? Great depression?
Another hurricane? What?

"But if you dont like America, then simply put, just leave!"

Nobody likes America. You just like certain people and certain things in America. But not 300 million people and not billions of objects which together form what you call America.
For one thing you don't like Americans who do not stand for Pledge of Allegiance. In fact you hate them.
Along with many many other Americans. Admit it.
This whole "I love the country" abstraction is phoney.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

You should ask that from the vast majority of people who do not do anything like this in their own country. How can they live without it?

It's a dumb ritual that means absolutely nothing solves absolutely nothing and is rooted in primitive nationalism nothing more. A few centuries from now if humans still exist most will laugh at this nonsense.

More fascism. All hail Hitler, er um, I mean the chief. Conservatism at it's finest--stripping you of choice and liberty.

In fact, why don't we just take the Statue of Liberty down. It doesn't mean what it used to!

These kids are extremely ungrateful for the things America has given them. Do they realize what was sacrificed so they could sit in that classroom. Lives were lost for that very purpose. The flag is a symbol for what was sacrificed. What they are saying is screw all that was lost for freedom. A real world experience is needed to show these kids that there are kids starving in most of the world. We Americans have it great. Never doubt that, how do we show these kids this. I say starve them and make them work in a shoe factory. If it kills them I hope they at least learned something from it.

unobjectivitiy sucks is totally right. i don't care who the authority figure is, if you are told to stand, you stand. leave your beliefs and individualism for somewhere outside the realm of a social institution.

its not 1984, its a brave new world...

This is a joke. I was raised Jehovah Witness and we didn’t believe in pledging an oath to anything other than god. When the time came to recite the pledge of allegiance I would respectfully stand and that was it. These kids had no reason to refuse to stand, they just wanted to be punks. If you take advantage of this countries public school system you should at least respectful enough to stand during the pledge.

nate is also right! we should beat these little brats to DEATH until they realize how great we are as a country. I mean, who would want to stand and pledge allegiance to a dandy country that lets you CHOOSE what you believe in.

You people forget that we as a country didn't pledge allegiance to England. That's how we separated and became the friggin United States in the first place. If we all followed blindly like sheep we would still be part of Europe. Get your history straight

You can't see the forest through the trees.
People are so mindless and don't follow through to the logical conclusion or even ask why anymore. Nobody questions anything.

Veterans especially. I'm so sick of hearing about there patriotism because they fought in the wars. THE WHOLE REASON YOU FOUGHT FOR US WAS FOR US TO HAVE FREE SPEECH AND LIBERTY. Duh, how can you be so dense. This is the same mindless action of wearing stupid flag on your lapel

Lets just abolish the word VOLUNTARY from the american dictionary shall we?!--AND GET IT OVER WITH

LOL Kurka! That was a hit.

America , in fact , exists ( for immigrants , mayflower descendants , and everyone else ) because generations of it's citizens fought and died for it - it would not have existed otherwise - you f--ng at least stand for the pledge out of respect - you wouldn't have the luxury of standing, or sitting , if it weren't for the people who gave their lives to make it possible for anyone to have an America , or a flag , to pledge to, stand for/ sit down against to begin with - it's called integrity- and say whatever you will about the pledge ( and i'm not even a christian) , you stand if only because you honor the idea that many died for you - and you should be grateful - and the pledge is perhaps the last symbolic gesture of solidarity this country has - singing the nat'l anthem at sporting events doesn't even come close .

I don't stand for the pledge and no one cares

Come on, children. There are many other, better forums for expressing your political beliefs (this website, for instance). While I do believe suspension was a bit harsh, sitting during the Pledge of Allegiance just feels like an empty gesture.

"you wouldn't have the luxury of standing, or sitting , if it weren't for the people who gave their lives to make it possible for anyone to have an America"

The luxury of standing???
Wanna bet that people would live today even if America as a country didn't exist? And wanna bet that those people would be standing and sitting as a matter of standard procedure?

They might not watch Sunday Night Football or eat hamburger or drive SUVs but they would certainly be standing and sitting.

I mean, try to be a little bit logical. Such hyperboles are not necessary.

Malathion,


You mean the type of "solidarity " someone like Rush Limbaugh and someone like Barack Obama and their followers feel when they think about each other?

Or when those "hard-working whites" in WV who would never vote for a black guy feel when they think about black guys?

Or what Rev. Wright feels when he is trashing the government for the latest conspiracy against African -Americans?

I somehow fail to see this universal solidarity you are talking about when every day I can see how Americans ridicule and disdain and hate each other while repeating over and over again as if they tried to prove it not just to others but themselves what huge patriots they are.

They cannot have it both ways.

And no amount of standing for the PoA will eliminate this contradiction.

The solidarity you are referring to exists only in people's imagination not in everyday life.

I dont think that its disrespectful and i dont feel that you should have to stand or pledge. There are many great things about America, yet many people have been distracted from them. Forced patriotism wont change a thing, public opinion is what has to change. We are a negative society, why do we expect anything less from our children? Maybe if we tried focusing on positive stories, perspectives would change. Plus im not sure what the children's motives were, perhaps they were just lazy, like the rest of America.

i remember when i was in school we all recited the pledge, but not a single one bothered to think about the words and what it meant, and there was never an explanation. this is a constant in American schools. "you must know it, but dont think about it." not only involving the pledge, but everything. there is no passion and care put into the teaching of the young, and it is reflected by their actions. these words are an empty ritual to these kids simply because they have been taught from birth to know the words but not the meaning or signifigance.

Having to even stand for the Pledge of Allegiance is just as bad as receiting it. You're supposed to stand up only for what you believe in, remember? If these students didn't believe in the pledge, they had every right to refuse.

I pledge allegiance to the world, of the united planets of the universe. We are so small, and our seperate-ness so unimportant, and frankly....why stand up for bombing children in foreign cities for oil.

maybe their soles hurt.
maybe their souls hurt.

You nationalists kill me and i'll tell you why. It is a redundant gesture. The flag in the yard and the little flag pin on the lapel for example. When I see it in the yard it says to me who are you showing your allegiance to; your neighbor?, he already knows it because HE LIVES HERE TOO. Are you trying to imply that you love your country more than the person next to you--if so it's a bit presumptuous. Unless he is being forced to live in this country beyond his means. We all love this country THAT'S WHY WE'RE HERE TOO, STUPID. It's kinda like going to your work office party and wearing a label that says what company you work for--i know dumb dumb I saw you at work today.

Wow. A little over board this whole thread is, isn't it?

I think my American history teacher is wishing she could have done this to a couple of us!

i apologize for any emotional distress my complete correctness may have caused .

I must admit it is a little distressing to see that a few 8th graders have a better grasp of the constitution though,lol.

Unconstitutional. I was in a similar situation when I was in high school, I received the lecture about "The people in the Military died for this country and for you, respect them by saying the pledge." I thought that the people in the military died for me to be able to CHOOSE if I wanted to say the pledge.

I often find that the most patriotic people are the ones who exercise ALL of their democratic rights, and challenge the system they believe in.

Hm, what are we arguing here? Following the status quo of reciting some words, which quite honestly are not in line with the document we supposedly hold dear, the Constitution? I though this was a place of freedom where people can choose to believe in what they wish without persecution? Punishing kids for not following a useless social protocol is not un-similar to the social policing that we find in the Middle East when certain customs are not followed. I find it very interesting how we can condemn another culture so quickly for the very acts we commit. It seems hypocrisy is the new patriotism.

This is absolutely ridiculous, being suspended for not standing for the pledge of allegiance? If some kids don't want to stand, then they don't have to stand. For me, I don't stand as a protest, a protest to the atrocities going on in the world and in this nation because of these stars and stripes.

It is time for the forced subjection to ideologies to stop in public schools. Forcing a child to stand for the pledge is the same as forcing them to recite the pledge; they are both apart of the idea that some level of respect & duty must be shown the the country [US].

I haven't read all the other responses so sorry if this has been said already, but isn't the fact that they were suspended a direct violation of freedom of expression?

I am reading the comments and in my head I am saying I wonder if any of you get up in the morning and recite the pledge or go to your job and recite the pledge with your co-workers, or maybe at 12:00PM while driving you stop the car to recite the pledge to show your patriotism. This is not about patriotism, stop hiding behind the word. This is about what you believe in as an individual because without individualism we are robots who will always agree with authority. I think it is better to show patriotism by helping your community out, getting off your ass and work for that America dollar because to me you can say you have patriotism all day, and without actions I can say you are full of it. Not only that why give thanks to only one country, I hate the only one thing because in this new era of globalization only one will be obsolete. Before I recite an oath to anyone I have to know the background behind, don't give a word like patriotism because that doesn't make sense to me. Tell me the history of the pledge, why do we have to say it, who made it, and why do young children and not adults have to recite it. Many people hate the pledge, but LOVE America, so stop that pity BS. There many ways to show patriotism like there are many ways to learn, live and die. We just have to choose which one we want to do.

It's hypocritical to tell people to leave America if they DISLIKE it, and yet at the same time to shut our borders to those that seek America because they LIKE it.