did anyone else from the USA grow up being forced to say the pledge to the flag in school?

im 20 for reference. ever since i was a kid, up until hs, we were forced every morning to stand, look at the flag and hold our hearts and say:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all"

i didnt stand a single time because i disagreed with being forced, and i was berated by the teacher in front of everyone, and he threatened to kick me out of class if i ever did it again. i was about 11-12 then, it was 2015.

The-Anus-King,

I grew up in Florida and funnily enough most of the teachers didn’t care, some even encouraged us to think about why we do it and make a decision for ourselves. I’m 28. I’m sure they all moved out of state or got fired by now.

albinanigans,

Christ, I'm almost 40 and they're still doing that?!

IcyCockatoo,
@IcyCockatoo@kbin.social avatar

This is still done in public schools in Texas, and they have the kids pledge allegiance to the Texas flag too.

gzrrt,
@gzrrt@kbin.social avatar

Yes. It's weird and should be stopped.

Compactor9679,

U can always go to a different country :)

euphoria,
@euphoria@kbin.social avatar

average american's reaction when someone doesnt want to be forced to worship a piece of cloth and a god they don't believe in every morning, and get berated if they dont lmfao. home of the free, right?

andromedathecat,
@andromedathecat@kbin.social avatar

I was never forced which is kind of notable since I’m from Alabama. I think my school was terrified of getting slapped with a lawsuit.

wjrii,
@wjrii@kbin.social avatar

I grew up in Florida and Tennessee in the 80s and 90s. It was definitely a daily thing, but very lax enforcement and I don't know that anybody would have made a huge stink about it even then. The duck and cover "tornado" drills were very real and very serious though.

QuinceDaPence,

We only had one teacher tell us we were required to (we were standing up just kinda mumbling it), the following class everyone just stayed seated and at least 3 of us had printouts in our backpacks confirming that it was a violation of the first amendment to require it.

He didn't even acknowledge it, knowing that teacher I imagine he looked it up right after and realized he was wrong.

We eventually resumed standing up but hands at our sides and silent.

Edit: if this is showing up as a reply to another comment, it was supposed to be a top level comment to the OP. Some weird stuff keeps happening with my comments but I'm not sure if it's just visual.

frustratedphagocytosis,
@frustratedphagocytosis@kbin.social avatar

Starting September 12, 2001 it became mandatory in high school, with disciplinary action taken if you refused to stand during the pledge

milkytoast,
@milkytoast@kbin.social avatar

it's weird as fuck, and especially the "under god" part like the rest isn't all that terrible ig but why must u shove god into everything

wjrii,
@wjrii@kbin.social avatar

It was tacked on in the 50s (note how it kinda messes with the cadence) because of godless commies. There have been other little tweaks as well, some making it worse (e.g. "under god") and some better (abandoning the, herrrm, "Roman" salute). While always a bit weirdly nationalistic, the core of the modern pledge was written by a Christian Socialist and replaced one that was worse and more explicitly religious.

I guess it's not so weird that it exists and I assume many countries have some sort of boilerplate loyalty oath they can bust out as needed, but it's pretty messed up that it's mandatory for kids on a daily basis and fetishizes the flag as an object. I am quite fond of my country, and I think there are a lot of worse places to live, but our history is pretty messed up and our views on what exactly constitutes freedom and democracy are not unquestionable just because some clever provincial elites came up with a halfway workable system in the late 1700s. I suppose it's marginally better to build a national cult out of institutions and symbols than individuals, but it's still a terrible idea to treat patriotism like religious dogma.

abff08f4813c,

This was very me

Catch42,
@Catch42@kbin.social avatar

Yes, I did. I didn't think anything about it at the time, but as an adult is seems weird, and like someone else said cultish. Yet, I am conflicted, because one of my concerns about the USA is increasing partisanship driven diverging cultures. Having kids say the pledge of allegiance is generally unoffensive, especially when compared to our ongoing culture wars.

hihusio,
@hihusio@kbin.social avatar

we did this during elementary school in the 80s. I also remember doing duck and cover drills for nuclear war.

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