Parents shocked daughter doesn't know Pledge of Allegiance - push school to recite it

[The Straight Story]

Parents shocked daughter doesn't know Pledge of Allegiance - push school to recite it

A Brooklyn school will start reciting the Pledge of Allegiance for the first time in years after a student's parents learned their daughter didn't know the patriotic oath.

Despite state and city rules mandating the pledge in public schools, students will only start reciting it next week at Public School 29 in Cobble Hill - apparently one of the many city schools that doesn't start the day by pledging to the flag.

The push for patriotism at PS 29 began six weeks ago when Joe and Winnie Fischer's daughter Brianna, 8, saw a class saying the pledge on a TV show.

"She asked what they were doing," said Joe Fischer, a firefighter, who also has a son at PS 29. "I was shocked that she didn't know the pledge. I thought she'd been doing it in school."

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2011/03/25/2011-03-25_parents_shocked_daughter_doesnt_know_pledge_of_allegiance__push_school_to_recite.html

Hey parents. Buy a flag, say it at home, problem solved.

[truebrit71]

1. As a foreigner living in the land of the 'free' I have always found it a little odd..

..that so many people want to force other people to pledge allegiance to a flag..isn't that what the nazis and communists did? Weren't they the bad guys?

Surely if you were 'free', you could pledge your allegiance to the flag as often or as seldom as you chose?

[monmouth]

15. "Liberty and justice for all." What a crock...n/t

[kestrel91316]

17. [phone]

[ejpoeta]

20. that's different. when they do it it is facism. when we do it it is

patriotic. my kids know the pledge. because they learned it in school. i do not say it myself. i will stand and hold my hand over my heart and in my head i will say what a stupid thing it is. i mean, the pledge in and of itself is fairly benign. like the girl scouts credo or something. but taken to the level it seems to have been.... as if it is a must.... if you want your kid to know it, teach them. right? my SIL (sort of) posted a thing on her facebook page about how you shouldn't buy pepsi because they put the pledge on their WITHOUT THE UNDER GOD part. and somehow that is enough to boycott them? really? like we don't have more pressing issues in the world than if a pop company left off the part of the pledge that wasn't even originally in there in the first place?? give me a break.

[hlthe2b]

23. Before they are old enough for coffee, children start day with "group mumble"

Yes, of course it would be offensively reminiscent of some authoritarian or "communist" government, if it were anything more than an excuse to stand, stretch, and attempt to mumble oneself into some level of coherence. Kids could be repeating their favorite rap, for all we know. ;)

[MineralMan]

2. Uh, duh...teach it to her yourself.

How hard is that?

[elocs]

3. "I thought she'd been doing it in school." Which just goes to show

how in touch he was with his daughter's education.

[SoCalDem]

4. In 7th grade (Kansas public school)

We said the pledge, recited the Lord's Prayer, and then "Trees", by Joyce Kilmer..
and then we had "circle time"
Circle time was when we placed the right front leg of our desks inside a circle she had drawn on the floor, because the custodian always moved the desks when he cleaned, and she wanted those rows tidy:)

This was our quirky teacher's start of every day :)

[tularetom]

8. Now that's a school that really looked like a school

They all had this smell of dust, ink, and the disinfectant they used to mop up puke in the halls.

I'll never forget that smell as long as I live.

[SoCalDem]

9. It's now a senior living center.. I just started a thread about it

check out the other pics.. I'm glad they saved it:)

[tularetom]

11. Well, if you'd give me a linky dink

:-)

[SoCalDem]

linkiedink

:)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x738071

[msongs]

5. most kids have no clue what the words mean, they are just robots....

pledge
allegiance
United States of America
republic
nation
god*
indivisible
liberty
justice
all*

* god and all of course means only people who believe in your religion in the same way that you do

[tularetom]

6. Parents even more shocked to discover daughter doesn't give a shit

C'mon, how many times did we all mumble through that pledge as kids. It was just another stupid ritual at a stupid school that we didn't want to be at in the first place. It did jack shit to make any of us love the flag or the nation for which it stands any more or less than we already did. We all just stood there like robots and voiced words we did not even think about.

[Iggo]

16. '...how many times did we all mumble through that pledge as kids...'

Countless. Same as the daily "times tables" recitations (sing-alongs, really), except I actually may have gotten something out of that.

I think I was in 4th grade before I knew "Pledge Of Allegiance" was three words...lol.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

7. Here's a RADICAL version of the Pledge of Allegiance! - by Utah Phillips

I pledge alliance to the flag
of the multinational corporations
and to the profit for which they stand
one interlocking directorate
under no government
indivisible
with monopoly and cheap labor for all.


I heard this on the radio yesterday (WORT Madison 89.9FM)

Teach her this one - WAHOO!

[Jokerman]

26. +1

[JBoy]

10. Armchair patriots.

The Pledge is apparently important enough to the parents to raise a stink with the Principal about it, but not important enough to have expended any effort in talking about it or teaching it to their kid for the previous 8 years.

[FSogol]

12. Parents know nothing of what is happening at daughter's school.

dumbasses

[Javaman]

13. Isn't it interesting that we enforce a loyalty oath in a supposed free society? nt

[Iggo]

14. Iggo shocked parents didn't teach it to her themselves. (n/t)

[sharp_stick]

18. My daughters school still does it

I was kind of surprised but it doesn't bother me that much.

However if they had to go back and start doing the Lord's Prayer like I had to do when I was in grade school, that would probably get me into a board meeting or two.

[zbdent]

19. Hmm ...

Isn't part of the schooling the involvement of the parents?

Teach the kid the pledge at home.

[hlthe2b]

21. Let 'em do it once a year-- on flag day....

as a social science/civics lesson. The daily organized droning repetition of it is pretty damned meaningless--not to mention the troublesome aspects of "pledging allegiance" to much of anything.

I recall doing so in grade school... We could pretty much have been reciting anything.

[hunter]

22. When a good number of students in your classroom could be deported at any time...

... even when they are citizens, it makes the pledge seem especially hollow.

[walldude]

24. I pledge alligence to Queen Frag and

her mighty state of hysteria. -Calvin

[gkhouston]

25. 'Cause you know, she's gonna need that knowledge as an adult.

:sarcasm: