As someone who is young enough to remember school and old enough to look back on it more objectively, this discussion struck a nerve.
If you're in school now you may fall into one of two groups. To rebel is a neutral act, and what you rebel against makes it moral or immoral, along with your intenetions. The first step is to sit back and take a look at the whole picture, and chose your battles wisely. Complaining and moaning about every little thing will get you nowhere, but at the same time don't speak words you don't mean.
I dealt with a prayer at my graduation ceremony as an athiest by not participating. The prayer was conducted under a veil of "free speech" by a student who never had that free speech throughout their high school years. I had a Health teacher who said we shouldn't get tatoos because our bodies were sacred gifts of god. In retrospect both myself and the truely religious (some of my best friends, one gave the prayer) were both outcasts from a school which only cared about control.
We lived in a culture of control. We were told not to even use the word columbine in my senior year. As to the previous comments about respecting one's elders, that respect is not automatic. I hold several of my HS teachers in high regard, yet I would not even talk to several others. I was stupid in high school, not in that I didn't know about the world, but I was constantly fooled into thinking that my teachers were on a different level than I. It was only later in my last year or so that I realized the truth and developed mutually respectful relationships with the good teachers and ignored the bad. If you're in HS now my advice would be to do the same.
I do not have children although I may someday. I do worry about my family members that are still in school. My innocent niece told her father that he was doing drugs and was a bad person because he had beer in the fridge. She was horrified by the teachings in her school which took the responsibility of "learning discipline and respect" and undermined the authority of her family. My family taught me right from wrong, and I'll be damned if a school interferes with those strict teachings. I managed to turn out okay and today hold by own beliefs about drugs, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, religion, etc.
Several posts in this thread have been nothing more than a kneejerk reaction. From "skool suks" to "stupid kids" the difference between a inhalent using bullying punk and a young, smart person of sound mind has not been addressed. After all this ranting my opinion on the original question is this. If you don't want to do the pledge because you want to rebel(with no reason) you have no moral bounds, and nobody should care. However, if you have a reason to not recite the pledge(with or w/o "under God") based on your own set of values, you should not be forced to do so. I personally will never say the pledge again, as I have moral issues with its wording, not with the country it supposedly represents.
Also democracy does not equal freedom. Freedom is the state of not being restricted in an area. Democracy is just a form of government, not a set of values. A capitalist government (elected or otherwise) would hold freedom dear. A facist or repressive government (elected of otherwise) dismisses freedom as a secondary concern.
Facebook
Twitter