Is the school board having a change of heart;
Board President Doug Morrison, who was the voice on the call, said the goal was to clarify the policy revision, as well as gauge how community members feel about how the Pledge is performed at high schools.
“We represent them, so we need to get their input,†he said. “We’re looking for some hard data rather than anecdotal reports.â€
Yeah, Doug, I’m sure you want to hear from the parents, that’s why you are putting this survey out AFTER the vote. Reminds of when Ms. Stehly was fighting for a sub-teacher pay increase and you hung up the phone on her after telling her you could only speak with her through correspondence through the school district’s attorney’s office. I guess violent threats from ‘patriotric Americans’ will make anyone have a change of heart? I thought as flag pledge reciting true-blue Americans we don’t give into (domestic) terrorists?
What are my feelings on the pledge? Well as I have said to many people (to make a sarcastic point) “How is making kids say the pledge any different then Obamacare? Kinda sounds like communist Russia socialism.”
Here is my feelings, and I will piggyback this off of a comment by a veteran;
Boorman said he is concerned about today’s students.
“If they don’t understand where our country has come from, if they don’t understand how we’ve gotten to where we are, if they don’t understand the high cost for freedom, then how are they going to lead our future country?†he said.
I like where Boorman is going with this, but I would like to add this. If HS students are going to be required to say the pledge, fine, but the teacher in that classroom should also give a short 3-5 minute history lesson about examples of patriotism that have happened in our country, each and everyday, before the pledge. Of course, teachers and staff will say they don’t have time to research such things, that is fine, I’m sure while Boorman is at the VFW telling old war stories, him and his buddies can come up some great patriotic lessons. I mean, if you have time to do FOX interviews and play pinnacle, you got time for a little patriotic research? Right?
My point is simple, if you are asking kids to say the pledge, put a little meaning and introspective behind it.
It’s a delicate subject. Nobody has a problem with present policy. Keep it. Our form of government is now often threatened. Saying the pledge is one good way to remind us of who we are and respect for our freedom. Just don’t let Roxanne sing the national anthem.
Rosanne
My point is simple, give students the reason to say it. Rosa Parks, I have a dream, Normandy Beach, Hamburger Hill, Gettysburg. Give them a brief and subtle history of this great nation before each pledge, something to think about before saying it. Otherwise it is just as shallow and meaningless as a cheer rant.
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/school-board-blames-kelo-reporting-error-for-pledge-of-allegiance-controversy_b109611
Where were these people 10, 20, or 30 years ago when the high school kids weren’t saying the pledge?
If a person hears and says the Pledge 24/7, it won’t make them any more patriotic than if they don’t. Being patriotic is something people choose to be when they grow up. When kids say the pledge in school, they are basically being forced to say it. If a kid isn’t comfortable saying it, he/she will still say it to follow the rest. The only way I kid won’t be forced to say it is if they are a very independent thinking kid.
Smart asses are just gonna make iphone app to recite it every day.
Rosa Parks, I have a dream, Normandy Beach, Hamburger Hill, Gettysburg. Give them a brief and subtle history of this great nation before each pledge, something to think about before saying it
Well and good l3wis, and I understand where you’re coming from. But this is a whitewashing of US history. When you were in school, from the time you started this recitation, what did you learn of say….the Vietnam war? How many paragraphs did you read about it, or how much time was spent discussing it? Until topics like that and thousands of others like it are given their fair share of time in history books, the pledge means little.
My parents, as small children, recited the pledge like this. For the first fifty years of the pledge, from 1892 to 1942 it was done done this way. Just something to think about.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_salute
“If a person hears and says the Pledge 24/7, it won’t make them any more patriotic than if they don’t.”
^^^Right on point. All four years of high school we never said the pledge during class, but it didn’t make me feel any less patriotic or proud of the country. I think the school district, schools, and JROTC programs do a fantastic job of representing our nation and promoting patriotism at events and throughout the school day.
…JROTC programs do a fantastic job of representing our nation…
Must have been enough to encourage you to enlist against our never ending battle against terror. What branch are you in?
Next thing, no national anthem at baseball games. But please, not the 7th inning stretch. Joan has a good point. If the pledge is to often then it loses it’s meaning. Saying it in grade school had meaning and a sense of patriotism for me. It was the one time at the start of each day that I stood straight and wasn’t causing trouble. A good citizen is one who respects family, country, and perhaps god. If not for yourself then respect our country for freedom of choice. Standing or sitting quiet is an option.
“Must have been enough to encourage you to enlist against our never ending battle against terror. What branch are you in?”
It’s selfish to think you can’t serve or honor your country in more ways than one.
It’s selfish to think you can’t serve or honor your country in more ways than one.
I been listening to this BS for more years than I can to endure. As a child of privilege, show grandpa there’s more to life than skyscrapers. Be somebody. Maybe like Pat Tillman. A real American.
There’s a great deal more to patriotism than idolizing modern-day professional militarism. The founders were opposed to the idea of a standing army. Thus was born the 2nd amendment.
Threats over a stupid pledge of allegiance show the fanatic social disease – nationalism. Whether nationalism is manufactured through vitriolic propaganda as occurred under President Wilson to get the US into the war he promised to stay out of, compounded later by the appropriately named, national socialists, or championed today by other strident zealots – it’s tragic results are similarly mindless bowing to unthinking obedience.
A narrow, critical line exists between patriotism and its evil twin, nationalism. Compelled speech in any form is clearly wrong and evil.
The Sioux Falls legislator who’s vain search for a problem and thus promises to make the pledge statewide [likely once again making the state a national laughing stock] associated mandating the pledge with informing students about the constitution. Yep. The constitution existed 115 years prior to the silly pledge, has nothing to do with the pledge (nor the pledge with the constitution), and does not condone compelled speech or silence.
Can we make the exchange students say it too?
Flyer, during the height of the Vietnam war years a half million men a year served. Most were drafted, but still did their duty. You could also buy your way out of the draft like many privileged did. That was then. It was wrong of me to presume how it may be today.
Anyway, it was wrong what I said of you yesterday.
The easiest solution would be to have the pledge be recited somewhere like an open gymnasium at a given time, where students could congregate on their own accord and recite the pledge if they choose to.
Yeah, I am sure a lot of them would show up. You would have the challenged kids and the ROTC and that’s about it.
Maybe that would reveal to the media and parents just how patriotic students are, or aren’t.
Yup.
Comment #4 is important!
Not sure if you watched the school board meeting tonight, but it was ironic that school board president Morrison reminded (2) combat veterans they were at their 5 minute limit. I cried, really I did, during their testimonies. Brave people beyond belief, came forward. And all I could think of was pure disrespect for what these people gave to our country, a stop watch. They were truly ‘bullied’. They werent having it, and finished their testimonies.
Let’s please stop using the word bully. The school board wasn’t bullied. These vets weren’t bullied (this time). Disrespected, yes. Real bullying is being ignored because any difference of opinion is attached to that word.
The irony of all this is that it took violent threats (and piss poor reporting) to get the school board to ask the public’s opinion on the matter. School name changes, sick kids graduating, allowing private clubs to circulate in the schools, and school closures, we don’t give a shit about the public’s opinion. But the pledge of allegiance, I guess we better put a survey out.
Hey, the school board patriotically responded. Can these vets visit a city council meeting and address observing constitutional law & due process.
Having grade school, middle school, and high school students recite a pledge by rote is just WRONG. Til these kids are taught U.S. history as it actually happened, and not the revisionist version, pledges mean little, and the kids know it.
The events of the Indian Wars? Wounded Knee was only the tip of the iceberg. The events that led to the dropping of two nuclear bombs on civilian cities? What do our graduates know of Agent Orange? I’d venture not one in a thousand have ever heard of it.
Good luck telling any of them boys to take off their hats for the City Council.