Thread: Should you have to stand?

Should you have to stand?
By Rachel (curse)

What happens to the kids who don’t say the pledge of allegiance, we don’t usually stand that’s all. We stay seated and watch as other stand to show their respect to the flag that we have none for. To be in trouble for not standing seems like a trivial thing. Sitting in homeroom I do not believe in standing, I do not believe in pledging my allegiance to a country when I am 16. No offence its just the way I think that’s all; I think that I should be able to sit there quietly and not get reprimanded. It’s not as if I am the only one, or that we say the pledge every day. Sometimes the school doesn’t even do it if we don’t have time in the morning. Why is it my fault that because I don’t stand my teacher finds it her god given right to get on my case and involve the principle and get me pulled out of class? I would like to introduce you to the school bi laws book that was revised just last year. I will define the word optional to you: Optional: left to one's choice, not required or mandatory. That’s what I THOUGHT it meant, maybe my teacher and I are reading different dictionaries. My rights will NOT be violated and I will pick this up and give it wings so people know they don’t have to get in trouble for sitting.

Lets let our voice be heard; we can’t roll over like a dog anymore and let them win. They are wrong and I am going to prove it one way or another with real facts. My rights will not be trampled and my teacher will not get the satisfaction of seeing me stand up and place my hand over my heart. She won’t hear me say that pledge; as little as it may matter to some people. I am fighting back. Should we have to stand for something we don’t believe in? My answer is no, tell me what you think.

They can't force you to stand. I stood all the time, sure, but that's just me. I've got nothing against those who don't... and frankly don't think it's that big a deal.

And is there any kid in America who honestly actually gives a damn about pledging to the flag? Maybe the kid of a veteran or family of veterans.

Curse, you have my utmost respect and admiration.

Rach, I didn't stand for the pledge today, out of respect for your wishes. My teacher asked me why, and I said "to prove a point". Thumbs up to you.
Sanc

my high school didn't do that

but i agree with you

I'm homeschooled now, but for both ninth and tenth grade I never stood for the flag, and even when I did I never said the pledge. I really think there's something wrong with having kids pledge themselves to a flag and country every day through empty words that have been drilled into them all ther lives. Another thing that bothers me is the fact that the pledge contains the words "under god". I'm not religious myself, and I would like to know whatever happened to seperation of church and state.

I know exactly what you mean. I never said the pledge. I didn't see the point. This country is going to hell in a handbasket. It's insane. It's a choice, and no one should make up your mind for you. Good job.

DesolateValkyrie

I am 21 now, but all the time i went to school i sat durring the pledge.
I started in kindergarten, even then i didn't know why i should make a pledge to a peice of cloth, or, as the pledge itself says, "to the Republic for which it stands". I love my country, despite it's obvious flaws, but i refuse to make a life long pledge to a country that is ever changing. Our Founding Fathers set this country in such a way that if the people ever feel the need, they can, and should rebel.
It's one of the driving principles behind the Second Amendment. So why should i stand up everyday and mouth words i don't believe in? We all know that the majority of school age children do just that, mouth words.

By sitting you're standing up for something you believe in, you have my respect.

I can understand why people stand... I myself stood for the pledges... but more for the sentimental value of what our country USED to stand for. The ideals and exploration of human freedom that was once our mantra, the basis of our reputation. But now... I am sad for the freedoms we have lost and the hypocrisy that we have gained. Thank you for posting this, and you're right, maybe there is no reason to pledge our alliegence to this country of crap.

Cheers.

I can tell you that for the first 15 years of my life, I always stood obideintly when they told us to, put my hand over my heart, and said the pledge.
Then, sometime during 10th grade, I realized what the pledge really meant, and that I didn't have to stand or say anything.
Up to that point, I thought of all of the people who didn't stand as unpatriotic jerks, but on that day I realized otherwise.
Sometimes I stand out of respect for our country (which is, after all, my home), and other times I don't.
Since I'm in college now, we haven't said it yet, so I can't really show my opinion of the topic either way in school.

Yeah, that's my two cents, for what it's worth.

We don't say a pledge in Canada, but I know I sure wouldn't stand for one if we had it. Good for you!

At school Remembrance Day services we are told we must stand. I always found that kind of ironic: stand to honour the memories of those who died for your freedom. The freedom to do as we say.

Sure, civil disobedience is fine and all... but what was the point of this essay? I clicked "Should you have to stand?" and got little more than "I don't stand". Pardon me if I'm not acquainted with the rules and I'm terribly out of line subjecting works to scrutiny outside of a specific critique board, or something to that effect, but I don't quite get the point of this, to be blunt.

In any event, I used to remain seated every so often in middle school (only about two months of my life, being that I started homeschooling in early 6th grade), mainly because I was lazy and being forced to stand for freedom seemed trivial (at best) and hypocritical (at its worst). These days, I go to a liberal arts prepatory, and we don't do any of the pledge of allegiance bullshit.

How can everyone be so one-sided with this. I admire you for not standing, but I also think that it isn't wrong or right to stand for the pledge. Either way, whether it's what you originally intended or not, you are showing the freedoms this country bases it's values on, and how strong they can be, yet at the same time showing how those values are twised by the corrupt and the ambitious for their own gains, and their ways to make you follow THEIR lead. It shows the duality of man really. The irony in everything.


In saying it with pride, we respect those who truely cared, and sometimes sacrificed in the name of freedom, OUR freedoms that we are entitled to by citizenship. Yet sometimes we show that we are not conciously making that pledge, but following blindly a tradition, engrained in the heads of those who could care less about natural right, created by men (and Hilary Clinton) There really is no right answer to whether standing for the pledge is the equivilant to surrendering your freedoms, or just showing pride in your country. You can say the pledge and have no pride, or sit out of respect of the country. Personally, i stand to keep the teachers at bay, but I will not say it aloud.

Eh. But are we really as free in the way our fore fathers had intended? So called "Patriot Acts" (the irony of naming an Act that robs us of our civil rights 'Patriot') and an abusive and heavy-fisted government? It's all relative and I won't get into politics. I agree with you zeeby, whether you stand or sit, it's all about how you feel and it doesn't matter how you choose to express that.

Stupid fascist country. >.<