You Guys Love that Flag, We Get It

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Sam Greenstein, Commentary Editor

Imagine a country where in every classroom of that country is displayed a talisman that is supposed to represent their government (which all of its citizens unconditionally love, of course). Every day at the same time these students all willingly stand up, put one of their hands over their heart, and stare lovingly at their government symbol while repeating a chant that’s been instilled in them since kindergarten. Pretty creepy, right?

Wait . . . we do that.

If you’ve ever stopped to think about it, the Pledge of Allegiance is actually really weird. Here we are at an institution that’s supposed to give us knowledge and prepare us for careers, and what does our school do with our parents’ hard-earned tax dollars? Have students on the morning announcements lead us as we recite the same dang thing that we’ve known since we started our educational careers! It was annoying enough when we did recited the Pledge twice a week, but now Minnetonka’s doing it daily! I guess the administration would rather have schools filled with sheeple than critical thinkers. After all, a good citizen is one who doesn’t upset the status quo, right?

In an interview with Principal Erickson, he revealed that his support for saying the Pledge of Allegiance largely stems from “the tremendous freedoms we have” and the “opportunities [that come with] living in this country.” Principal Erickson cited the pledge as being “part of our culture [and] what we do,” pointing to a statute in the Minnesota state constitution. This statute, section, 121A.11, provides surprisingly in-depth instructions on how to display the American flag and mandates that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited by all public schools at least once a week, making the new once-a-day policy a tad heavy-handed in interpretation and practice.

Even with all this pro-American patriotic display, simply saying the pledge and displaying our flag doesn’t seem to truly instill patriotic duty where it counts, with voter turnout in Minnesota’s 18-24 age bracket consistently clinging at only a little more than half, likely stemming from a lack of real political engagement fostered in high school. Discussions of current events and important American historical events (such as Black History Month) would likely be more effective in instilling positive values in high schoolers than mindlessly reciting the pledge does.

One of the most interesting things Mr. Erickson revealed in the interview was the source of this recent policy change: district’s superintendent Dr. Dennis Peterson catalyzed the move in a conversation with Mr. Erickson which led to Mr. Erickson’s “understanding […] that [MHS] needed to be doing [the Pledge] daily.” Additionally, Erickson noted that the shift to pledging our allegiance daily is still only on a trial run for third quarter. Whether it gets permanent implementation or not will depend on its effects on the school and the reaction from staff and the student body.

Of course, no one actually makes you say the Pledge (save from a few judgmental, outspoken students), as I learned as a rebellious freshman. In fact, the same statute that requires Minnesota schools to say the pledge allows “any student or teacher [to] decline to participate.” Sure, saying the Pledge feels instinctive, as at this point it’s been hardwired into all of our brains like spawning upstream is in salmon. Yet, doing something just because you always have is a pretty terrible reason to continue to do something, especially considering all the good reasons to not be doing it.

My personal qualms with saying the pledge include the fact that America’s historical legacy and current policies are troubling at best, the Pledge’s violation of the separation between church and state with its inclusion of “God” (which could be a whole article in itself), and the fact that I’m not going to stand up from my desk at 9 in the morning unless the school’s on fire. Furthermore, not doing the pledge doesn’t mean you unconditionally hate America, love terrorism, and knock over “support our troop signs” while reciting The Communist Manifesto. I love my cats and rigatoni, but you don’t see me pledging allegiance to them every day.

 

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