Three Suspended for Not Standing for Pledge of Allegiance

[babylonsister]

Three Suspended for Not Standing for Pledge of Allegiance
By Paul Walsh



Three small-town eighth-graders in Minnesota were suspended by their principal for not standing Thursday morning for the Pledge of Allegiance, violating a district policy that the principal now says may soon be reworded to protect free speech rights.


“My son wasn’t being defiant against America,” said Kim Dahl, mother of one of the students, Brandt, who attends Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High School in northwestern Minnesota.

Brandt told the Forum newspaper in Fargo that Thursday’s one-day in-school suspension, “was kind of dumb because I didn’t do anything wrong. It should be the people’s choice.”

Kim Dahl said the “punishment didn’t fit the crime. If they wanted to know why he didn’t stand, they should’ve made him write a paper.” She said her son has been declining to stand all school year, offered no reason for sitting and was not obligated to explain his actions.

The school’s handbook says all students are required to stand but are not required to recite the pledge. The same is true for all four schools in the district, a school official said.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/10/8853/

[CreekDog]

1. the policy is bad enough, but suspension for "not standing"???

i thought suspensions were for serious disturbances at school, like fighting, stealing, lying, etc.

but for "not standing", suspension?

that's ridiculous.

[trevjr]

2. Very strange

Back in 1964, I was a little black kid in an all white school in Bucks County, PA, yeah that Bucks County, racist.
We did the pledge and my mother, who had met the Kennedy's, Stokley Carmichael, Nikki Giovanni, etc., mentioned to me offhand that I was not required to stand. So I tested the theory by refusing to stand. I remember there was a commotion about it and a few other kids started to sit also. After a few days, I guess a compromise was worked out and my mother told me to stand but I did not have to say it or hold my hand over my heart. I was only 7 at the time. I remember that 3 or 4 other kids did not recite the pledge either. Amazing that this is still going on!

[Jokinomx]

10. Welcome to the DU

Judging by your number of posts... your either a new member or don't share your opinions very much... Anyway... thanks for being here and joining one of the best sites for information on the net.

:toast:

[varkam]

3. I always thought the pledge was a very strange activity.

But then again, that's me :D

[wundermaus]

4. Eighth Graders gives a civics lesson to School Principal...

Back in 1972 when I refused to pledge allegiance to the flag in high school it would have meant being expelled if I had refused to stand - but since I stood but did not recite the pledge, my home room teacher did not press the point. A year from then I would be facing the draft and I suspected my teacher was convinced I would pay soon enough for my insolence. I missed being drafted by 2 weeks. If those kids have the guts it takes to make a stand by refusing to stand for the pledge of allegiance, then I say good for them. They, as citizens and thinking patriots have the right to express their political opinions... they may be the ones facing death on the battlefield. It's the cowards and the cows who sit when they are told to sit and stand when they are told to stand, who blindly march off to war (for greed) that we should truly fear. The school handbook says to stand for the pledge but are not required to stand. Seems that even passive protest is forbidden... would that future Ghandi's being expelled from their middle school, a higher lesson could not be taught to that principal and their community.

[HockeyMom]

5. I worked in a class of 8th graders

on LI a few years ago. There was a boy in class who always took a bathroom break when the pledge was about to be recited. He said he was Wiccan and his religion did not permit him to pledge anything to a piece of cloth. Nobody ever said anything to him. Apparently, his views were well known to the school district.

Yes, I met his parents and they were Wiccan. I never asked them if that was part of their beliefs.

[Fumesucker]

6. The pledge before 1942

It's called the "Bellamy Salute".

[TahitiNut]

12. Strangely, many schools continued even after 1942.

I know that's the way my parents and aunts and uncles learned it ... and remember (I began pre-school/kindergarten in 1947) reciting it that way initially. Indeed, some school ceremonies had the Class Lead(s) holding the corner of the flag in the left hand while the right had was raised in the Bellamy Salute.

[Fumesucker]

14. I didn't know that.. Thanks n/t

[Petrushka]

16. Right hand over heart, say "I pledge allegiance..."; then, saluting Old Glory, say "...to the flag

of the United States of America
and to the Republic
for which it stands:
one Nation, indivisible,
with liberty
and justice
for all."

THAT is the Pledge of Allegiance we learned as first-graders in a two-room schoolhouse in West Virginia. But World War II and Germany's "Sig Heil!" ended the stiff-armed salute; and we were taught to, thenceforth, keep our right hands over our hearts throughout the entire Pledge.

Also: FWIW: When we reached the fifth grade, in addition to saying the Pledge of Allegiance every morning, we remained standing and recited the Preamble to the U. S. Constitution before being seated, bowing our heads and reciting the Lord's Prayer.

And . . . (**sigh**) . . . of course, by the time my daughter entered first grade, "under God" had been added to the Pledge of Allegiance because, no doubt, of the the threat of "godless Communism".

[hulklogan]

7. I bet these criminals weren't wearing their flag pins either!

:sarcasm:

[Contrary1]

8. Some years back when I was an aide to a second grade classroom...

there was a big commotion because the teacher would not stand in front of the class to lead the Pledge. Her religion did not allow allegiance to anything other than God.

Parents were bitching about it. The principal came to me and asked if I could try to talk her into doing it. I replied that I would discuss it with her, but would not try to convince her to do anything that was against her religion.

And so, the teacher and I had a nice chat about it. She was worried that I and others thought her to be un-American. I told her that I considered her to be more of an American than the "patriots" who stood like zombies with their hands over their hearts (or stomachs), reciting words like "liberty and justice for all", and yet had no clue as to what those five words really meant.

The principal caved when I repeated that to him. From then on; every morning, one child would volunteer to take the lead.

[Jokinomx]

9. This story brings back an old memory of mine....

I was in kindergarten at the time.... almost 45 years ago. My parents were searching and studying with various religions at the time. One day I was playing with my blocks on the kitchen floor listening to a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses explaining that students shouldn't say the Pledge of Allegiance, that we should only pledge allegiance to Jehovah Himself. So the next day... without telling my parents, I refused to cite the P.O.A. telling my teacher the above reasoning and she said ok.... and allowed me not to participate. She didn't even tell my parents until parents/teachers conferences. Nothing got blown out of proportion and people didn't freak out. They just respected my newly adopted philosophy.

Anyway... we as humans really do create many of our problems and this principle is doing just that...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. What we did in high school.....

This was in Texas, 1968-72.

We would stand and say the pledge, and finish with, "And liberty and justice for all the very rich". :D

[babylonsister]

13. Wow, how progressive of y'all! nt

[TheCentepedeShoes]

18. Texas HS grad 1966 here

I said "under no god." Don't think anyone noticed, they were so "enRaptured."

[Peace Patriot]

15. "It should be the people’s choice.”--future President of the United States. nt

[Solly Mack]

17. I refused to recite it or stand for it in the 3rd grade

I see no reason to make kids do it.