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When Sean Harrington entered his freshman year at Arlington High School, he noticed something peculiar: There were no American flags in the classrooms, and no one recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
So Harrington enlisted the aid of his fellow students, and now, three years later, they have succeeded in getting flags installed in the classrooms. But the pledge still will not be recited.
The Arlington, Mass., school
committee has rejected the 17-year-old's request to allow students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance, because some educators are concerned that it would be hard to find teachers willing to recite it, according to a report in the Arlington Patch.
Harrington had presented school officials with a petition signed by 700 people, along with letters of support from lawmakers including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.
But the request to have the pledge recited failed when the committee's vote ended in a 3-3 tie.
"I was really heartbroken," Harrington told FOX News Radio. "It's hard to think that something so traditional in American society was turned down."
His fight has received quite a bit of support from the community. "When I was going to school, it was an honor and a privilege to pledge allegiance to the flag," Francis De Guglielmo, 55, told the Patch. He called the ban an "absolute travesty" and a "disgrace."
Harrington, who will be a senior in the fall, said he will continue to fight. "I'm not a person who quits and I don't back down. It's a very righteous cause and needs to be followed through until the end."
Some committee members voiced concerns about forcing people to do something that might violate their beliefs – including religious beliefs. Among the no-votes was committee member Leba Heigham.
"Patriotism is a very personal thing for all of us, but I do not think it is in the school committee's best interest to mandate that any of our employees recite the pledge," she told the Patch.
Harrington said the recitation would have been strictly voluntary.
"If we can't find one teacher who is willing to say the pledge, then the system we have is cracked," he told FOX News Radio, noting that a number of teachers signed his petition.
He said the school's ban on the pledge sends the wrong message. "It tells me that we've basically cast aside what our country is founded on," he said. "It's saying that we don't really care, and it's sad."
Arlington's superintendent of schools did not return a call for comment.
LINK
Have at it ladies and gentlemen. 
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Who cares. Citing the pledge doesnt make you any more or less American.
"The medium for the bad news was ESPN, which figured. The network represents much of what is loud, obnoxious and empty in sports today."
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My Thoughts:
If they choose to not make it mandatory to say the pledge, that's fine, I think we quit doing it around the 6th or 7th grade when I was going to school.
But to not find one teacher willing, that is sad.
Last edited by FloridaFan; 06/30/10 11:59 AM.
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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I always found the pledge in school to be a waste of time (and slightly reminiscent of propagandizing).
If you really feel strongly about it, do it at home before you get to school, or get a group together to do it outside before first bell.
Now, if they banned that sort of organizing ... that would be a serious problem.
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If the title of this thread referenced a state other than NY, Mass, or Calf., I might go at it. If one of the "Big 3" actually did the pledge, THAT would be news. 
"My signature line goes here."
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committee has rejected the 17-year-old's request to allow students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance,
Somebody needs to give this boy better advice. He doesn't need the schools permission to voluntarily stand and say it. He should just get himself and any like minded students or teachers and stand during homeroom and say it. It might not be lead by somebody through the PA but who cares.. If he was my son that is what I would advise him to do... just stand and say it in a respectful non-disruptive way... then dare the school to do anything about it.
yebat' Putin
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Quote:
I always found the pledge in school to be a waste of time (and slightly reminiscent of propagandizing).
If you really feel strongly about it, do it at home before you get to school, or get a group together to do it outside before first bell.
Now, if they banned that sort of organizing ... that would be a serious problem.
I find your statement really sad. Everytime I say the pledge of allegience, I think of all of the young men and women that have sacrificed to give me and my family a better life. To each their own, I guess
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Who cares. Citing the pledge doesnt make you any more or less American.
That's not the point. they are being told they can't recite it.. That they AREN'T allowed to recite it..
Damnit, if I want to recite the Pledge, I'll do it anywhere and anyplace I damn well please..,
#GMSTRONG
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well, if I read that correctly, it's that they are not being given the time during homeroom to do it. teacher wants to teach, not to recite the pledge.
if they are being told they cannot recite at lunch/recess, free time. then, I have a problem with it.
can't believe they didn't have flags up though, that is strange.
#gmstrong
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Are you not familiar with "homeroom"? Maybe it's changed in the few years since I had it, but when I went to school, it was nothing more than a staging area to grab attendence, get school announcements out of the way, say the pledge, gab with the people sitting next to you and then move on to your first actual class. There's was no real "teaching" involved there.
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Wow.. I went to homeroom in Maryland and you went to homeroom in Idaho 10 years later and we had exactly similar experiences... weird. 
yebat' Putin
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where I went it was actually our English class. we did the attendance first, but then moved on to English class.
if it's a 'study hall', then there's no reason to not allow it. depends on how that school has it setup.
#gmstrong
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Quote:
can't believe they didn't have flags up though, that is strange.
The flags offend the Middle Easterners and Mexicans and the pledge offends the Agnostics because it says "Under God".
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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Yeah, this is really silly. Why not? At my school some of my friends were Jehovah's Witnesses and they just didn't stand or say the pledge. Big deal. What are they aftraid of, really? It's not like anybody's getting graded. Who's going to tell the kids they have to do it? It's freakin' homeroom. 
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Wow.. I went to homeroom in Maryland and you went to homeroom in Idaho 10 years later and we had exactly similar experiences... weird.
And I'm thinking that we had the same experience in Home room,, only I was in PA and it was probably 30 years before you.....LOL
#GMSTRONG
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Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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only I was in PA and it was probably 30 years before you.....LOL
If you are in your mid 70s.
yebat' Putin
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Quote:
Wow.. I went to homeroom in Maryland and you went to homeroom in Idaho 10 years later and we had exactly similar experiences... weird.
We had homeroom until High School. Then we had a "homeroom" but we were only required to go there on mornings when instructed (first day of school, report card day, end of semester, occasional school related events, in case of school emergency [typically had an assigned area outside to meet up with your homeroom class for evacuation scenarios]).
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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Quote:
only I was in PA and it was probably 30 years before you.....LOL
If you are in your mid 70s.
LOL Ok, it was 1966 to 1970 then.,,, you tell me the years difference 
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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Good. There are better things than a nation-state to which you can pledge your allegiance. Why not have students pledge themselves to the pursuit of knowledge, to the solidarity of humankind, to wisdom and reason, to ethical conduct? When will this "America!" fetish die?
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Legend
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Quote:
Quote:
I always found the pledge in school to be a waste of time (and slightly reminiscent of propagandizing).
If you really feel strongly about it, do it at home before you get to school, or get a group together to do it outside before first bell.
Now, if they banned that sort of organizing ... that would be a serious problem.
I find your statement really sad. Everytime I say the pledge of allegience, I think of all of the young men and women that have sacrificed to give me and my family a better life. To each their own, I guess
Who do you find it so sad?
It's an arbitrary string of words. It may mean something to some, it may mean nothing to others.
The thoughts that you have when you recite the pledge are the thoughts I have when I watch old WWII footage ... but I wouldn't advocate screening the same daily WWII footage in homeroom.
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When will this "America!" fetish die?
When they pry that American flag from my cold dead hands. 
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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If I were dead, I'd be rolling in my grave right about now!! Have we really become a nation of apathetic, mediocre nit-wits???
LET'S GO BROWNS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/OldSixty-Two/new0400001.jpg) [b]WOOF WOOF[b]
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Quote:
It's an arbitrary string of words. It may mean something to some, it may mean nothing to others.
blue jumping this green giraffe caravan hypothesis surely .. that is an arbitrary string of words.. the pledge of allegiance is not an arbitrary string of words, they were put on paper, in a specific order, to mean something.. nothing arbitrary about it. Just like the colors were put on the flag to mean something.. just like the words to the national anthem were written and adopted to mean something... I think it's great that you get that feeling watching WWII clips but the pledge of allegiance is recited for a reason... just like the flag is flown for a reason.
yebat' Putin
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can't believe they didn't have flags up though, that is strange.
... and the pledge offends the Agnostics because it says "Under God".
I don't think it'd offend agnostics, atheists sure, but probably not agnostics.
There are no sacred cows.
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... the pledge of allegiance is not an arbitrary string of words, they were put on paper, in a specific order, to mean something.. nothing arbitrary about it.
I agree. In essence you're giving your word that you stand with the country and the rest of the people giving it. The one thing I don't like about it is the daily mechanistic, almost force fed, quality it takes on.
There are no sacred cows.
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Funny, JUST last night my wife and I were walking home with our 2-year old daughter. We crossed in front of a court processing station in Chicago that had an American flag flying. My daughter stopped and told us it was a flag. Then we asked her to hold her hand over her heart and repeat after us....
We say, "I pledge allegience..."
She says, "I pled allgence..."
Cutely messing up each section. Anyway, as soon as we're done we hear clapping. Some older dudes across the street were clapping for my daughters first attempt at the pledge. She screamed "thank you" back at them and we went on our way.
I guess I'm not adding anything to the argument in the thread....but I thought I'd share that from our evening. I was a proud dad.
![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/Punchsmack/punch.gif) “...Iguodala to Curry, back to Iguodala, up for the layup! Oh! Blocked by James! LeBron James with the rejection!”
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Very cute moment. 
yebat' Putin
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Cute, and good parenting. Every kid ought to know the pledge. I know my daughter's school doesn't say it.
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Hmmph.. I must be getting old, but every day when I was in homeroom we said the pledge
SaintDawg™
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Hmmph.. I must be getting old, but every day when I was in homeroom we said the pledge
I did too. But trust me, even in this rural, small town - they don't. I help out enough mornings to know.
When I was in fifth grade it really hit home. One of my teachers was a Korean War Vet. He walked...........well, let's just say his one leg bent in unbelievably at the knee - just over the knee actually.
He shared why it was like that - he got point duty - and got shot - and almost took his leg off. The docs were able to cobble him together though, and he was able to walk. At age 23.
He just died about 3, maybe 4 years ago. Don Hoblet was his name.
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blue jumping this green giraffe caravan hypothesis surely ..
I had to check the username. I thought I was reading Bard initially and was trying to figure out what he meant.
#gmstrong
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Quote:
blue jumping this green giraffe caravan hypothesis surely ..
I had to check the username. I thought I was reading Bard initially and was trying to figure out what he meant.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
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... the pledge of allegiance is not an arbitrary string of words, they were put on paper, in a specific order, to mean something.. nothing arbitrary about it.
I agree. In essence you're giving your word that you stand with the country and the rest of the people giving it. The one thing I don't like about it is the daily mechanistic, almost force fed, quality it takes on.
I say agnostic because I have yet to meet someone that is true atheist. Even a satanist is not atheist they believe in something. The few self-proclaimed atheists I have met when asked have admitted to thanking God for help in a tragedy or asking for help. So they acknowledge there may be a higher power, but don't follow a faith.
Main Entry: athe·ism
Pronunciation: \ˈā-thē-ˌi-zəm\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French athéisme, from athée atheist, from Greek atheos godless, from a- + theos god
Date: 1546
1 archaic : ungodliness, wickedness
2 a : a disbelief in the existence of deity b : the doctrine that there is no deity
Main Entry: ag·nos·tic
Pronunciation: \ag-ˈnäs-tik, əg-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek agnōstos unknown, unknowable, from a- + gnōstos known, from gignōskein to know — more at know
Date: 1869
1 : a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god
2 : a person unwilling to commit to an opinion about something <political agnostics>
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
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The few self-proclaimed atheists I have met when asked have admitted to thanking God for help in a tragedy or asking for help. So they acknowledge there may be a higher power, but don't follow a faith.
And I know quite a few atheists who embody the second definition of atheism you provided. They believe that nothing exists, and there is no higher power. If there were, we would see evidence, in their rationale. Thanking God, or saying bless you when someone sneezes is a cultural thing and has no bearing on actual belief. Don't know. I still think that people run a spectrum between the two point.
There are no sacred cows.
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Once we passed the 7th grade we stopped saying the Pledge. Personally, I don't really see the importance. Its creation seems a lottle gimmicky, and to most kids the words don't have much meaning.
Maybe to a grown adult, the words could trigger an immense emotional response, but to most kids it would be an archaic, mundane ritual stealing valuable class time.
I don't hate the pledge---I just think that its from a different time.
People just don't care anymore, and some fresh-faced 17 year old needs to learn that lesson sooner or later.
I wish to wash my Irish wristwatch......
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I can't do it here from work...but after after Tyler's post. I think it is definitely time for it.
Could someone post the video of Red Skelton reciting the Pledge of Allegience?
Tyler mentioned he doesn't think kids or people get the words or that it is gimmicky.....but I have always felt that if people heard Red Skelton's narration, the Allegience would carry a little more meaning. Even if only for a short while. In the worst case, there would at least be a bit of better understanding of the intention of the Allegience regardless of whether you agree with all of the words or not.
I thought I was wrong once....but I was mistaken...
What's the use of wearing your lucky rocketship underpants if nobody wants to see them????
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LIbertatem Defendimus!!
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Good. There are better things than a nation-state to which you can pledge your allegiance. Why not have students pledge themselves to the pursuit of knowledge, to the solidarity of humankind, to wisdom and reason, to ethical conduct? When will this "America!" fetish die?
When enough people assume that the constitution and our freedom is no longer worth defending to the death.....and the ideals put forth by our founding fathers are outdated and meaningless.
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.
- John Muir
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I never saw that before.
That's really cool.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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Quote:
Quote:
Good. There are better things than a nation-state to which you can pledge your allegiance. Why not have students pledge themselves to the pursuit of knowledge, to the solidarity of humankind, to wisdom and reason, to ethical conduct? When will this "America!" fetish die?
When enough people assume that the constitution and our freedom is no longer worth defending to the death.....and the ideals put forth by our founding fathers are outdated and meaningless.
I don't think that the Pledge had anything to do with "The Constitution" or "The Founding Fathers."
I think it was actually first published in a "Children's Magazine." Which is why I noted earlier that its creation seemed gimmicky.
I wish to wash my Irish wristwatch......
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