Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school?

1. 60

   WindMaestroposted 13 years ago

   Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school?
   
   Do you think that a child should be disciplined for not standing to recite the pledge of allegiance? Or do you think that any disciplinary action be considered unconstitutional?
   
   

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2. 60

   laneandersposted 13 years ago

   I have always been fairly patriotic, but at the same time we were founded on freedom.  I think that constitutionality aside, disciplining someone for demonstrating their opinion would be against everything we as a country are supposed to stand for.
   
   I personally would be saddened to see that happen, but what can you do when you base your foundation on freedom.  To take away someone's freedom to stand or sit would be defeating the purpose. 
   
   I do think the Pledge of Allegiance needs to be said in school regardless of whether children stand or not.  It is a part of who we are as a nation.  I do not think it would be wise to require standing, or lawful to do anything about the refusal to stand.

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3. 0

   Valoric Fireposted 13 years ago

   "He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once".  "Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
   -Albert Einstein

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4. 61

   Jezebel28posted 13 years ago

   @ wolfissac - Spoken like a true fascist. What a horrible stance to condone punishment for those who disagree with YOU or the establishment.  I guess you forget why this is supposed to be a great country that exemplifies FREEDOM in actions, words, deeds.  Not some mob mentality that seeks to silence opposition, regardless of how you or other mindless tyrants feel.  Maybe you would feel more at home with Pol Pot in charge or Stalin.  Sending people to the Gulags probably right up your alley, especially when they don't toe the line with your philosophy. 
   
   In truth there is nothing "spectacular and profound" about a robotic child who does as he is told or simply because others are also doing it.  That is real laziness incarnate. Like that idiot in the elevator who turns around because everyone else who entered, did the same. Forgot the name of that psych experiment? That my friend is the definition of sheep and is what is wrong in America.  No critical thinking and mob mentality.
   
   Since you feel Einstein has no credibility outside Physics, here is a few for you to ponder:
   
   Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons.
   - Bertrand Russell
   
   Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious
   - Oscar Wilde
   
   You will never have a quiet world until you knock the patriotism out of the human race.
   -George Bernard Shaw
   
   Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.
   - Samuel Johnson
   
   Patriotism in its simplest, clearest, and most indubitable signification is nothing else but a means of obtaining for the rulers their ambitions and covetous desires, and for the ruled the abdication of human dignity, reason, and conscience, and a slavish enthrallment to those in power.
   - Leo Tolstoy
   
   A true patriot is one who questions blind authority and any symbols thereof. I remember reading Tolstoy’s words that “to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult you can of him.”
   Then again, the best one I remember was:
   
   “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”
   
   If not, I guess the fascists can always send us true patriots for water boarding at Abu Ghraib.....since that's usually what tyrants do to any opposition.  Conformity=Control

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5. 52

   abt79posted 11 years ago

   Depends on what country the school is in.....

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