New School Year, New Pledge of Allegiance?

When Racine County students head back to the classroom in just a few weeks, they'll start each day with the Pledge of Allegiance — a tradition that goes back generations.

In Wisconsin, as is the case with most states, classrooms in public schools are required to offer the pledge or the National Anthem daily, but students are not required to actually stand up and recite it. Most do, of course, but some students object to the phrase "Under God" and refuse to take part in the daily routine.

Students are required to say the pledge, but should they be? Patch posed the question to users over the last few days and received a flurry of feedback.

"It's interesting that traditionally, I grew up saying it until about sixth grade, then it dropped off," Jennifer Marx posted wrote. "Since adults are not required to say the Pledge each workday, why make children say it? To not pledge allegiance automatically is treason, so this issue is already taken care of under the law. I think it would be better to have civics class each year of school, and do projects exploring democracy, free speech, freedom, etc."

"Its your job to teach them as a parent and explain to them so they do understand," Dan Johnson posted on the Mount Pleasant-Sturtevant Patch Facebook page. "If we as parents dont teach them the meaning and symbolism of our flag we have failed our fathers and their fathers before them and every single veteran young and old that gave his or her life too keep this country free. If anyone has a problem with this flag or saluting it, they can try living in any other country so they can truly see how great they have it here. The pledge takes 30 seconds or less if you don't think our flag deserves at least that everyday, you need to re-evaluate everything you have in your life and think about why you have it. Its all because of that flag."

The issue has surfaced nationally. Earlier this year, a state lawmaker in Arizona introduced a bill to require students to recite the pledge. Other states, including Oregon and Nebraska, have had discussions on whether to require the pledge to be recited in schools.

For three decades, the pledge read as it does today, without the controversial phrase, “Under God.” But in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower pushed for Congress to add the phrase to combat communist threats, leaving Americans with the 31-words we have today:

"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."

So, should students be required to recite it?

"Nobody should be prevented from saying it each morning," Lisa Pontello wrote. 

"It reminds children that we are a very special nation, and to take a minute each day to offer your heart and ideals to further art, culture, science, and philosophy can only install pride," Doc Grable wrote. "And they can say the original version with out 'under God' if they choose. Perhaps if our nation had a little more pride, we wouldn't be in such a hurry to sell her off to the cheapest bidder, or perhaps protest when our nation is thrown into an illegal war."

And others also feel a strong sense of patriotism, but question if blindly citing words without proper understanding is doing any good. 

"They may not understand it when they're young, but as they grow older, the verse begins to resonate with the individual," Renee Sus wrote. "To that end, yes, children need to say the Pledge every morning. Maybe if we got back to the roots of our country where we, as a citizenry, were a united entity, things would get back to normal and this thought process of selfishness would diminish."

"I say not," Richard Imhoff wrote. "You're asking a child to pledge him/her self to something youngsters can't comprehend."

Patch blogger Lyle Ruble opened up this heated discussion of saying the pledge in a blog post that garnered more than 250 comments back in December.

“Only the discussion of abortion gets more emotive attention; but the role of religion in our schools and classrooms has been a sure fire prescription for heated conflict,” Ruble wrote.